Tomato Basil Soup

Kanzeda's Note:

My brother created this knock-off recipe for his wife's favorite soup from a french bakery, 3 hours away from home. It's better than the real thing!

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups tomato juice
• 2 (14 ½ ounce) cans tomatoes
• 12 fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ¼ lb unsalted butter

Directions:

1. Combine stock, tomato juice, and tomatoes in pot and simmer for 25 minutes.
2. Add basil and simmer 5 minutes more.
3. Puree the mixture in batches in a blender.
4. Pour soup back into the pot, over low heat add the cream and butter until blended.

Reviews

[Chris White]

Picked this looking for an easy replica of Le Madeleine's tomato-basil soup. This is certainly easy, although I'll offer a few tips/comments on flavor: One - The color is awfully 'orange', kind of like a cheet-o soup. My America's Test Kitchen cookbook suggests pureeing only the solids to try and keep from whipping too much air into the darker tomato liquids (and lightening the color) Two - The tomato juice added a definite V-8 like 'zing' to the flavor, which somewhat overwhelmed the basil. I will probably add more whole tomatoes or some tomato paste next time rather then using the juice to mellow out that tomato bite a little bit. Three - Hot liquids do not act the same as cold ones in the blender! Spewing hot soup all over myself and my kitchen was not a fun experience. I would recommend pureeing only 1 cup at a time in the blender, maybe less, to reduce the risk of burns/mess. Also, WEAR AN APRON or risk getting tomato splashes all over yourself. Four - I added about a tsp of sea salt to the finished product, and cracked some pepper over it in the bowl. 'Salt and pepper to taste' would be a good final step to this one.

[Mermaid]

Well, the weather is getting cold and the kids and I have colds so I wanted to find a tomato soup recipe. Am I ever glad I chose yours!! This is, hands down, the best soup I have ever had! I used to work near an Italian restaurant, Cafe Figaro, and would call every day to see what their soup of the day was, b/c they had the best tomato soup. This is just as good if not better. The color is a pinkish red, but that is the color of all creamy tomato soups that I have had. The recipe did not state what size can tomatoes to use so I used 1 28oz can. Thanks for posting. I will TRIPLE this next time.

[Vicki in Kansas Brown]

First I have to say I have a hard time just following a recipe, I fowwled this except I used Itailin tomatoes, V-8 juice a splash of whorshesteshire sauce and about 1/4tsp garlic and thyme tasted and added 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper. It really warmed us up, very good, I would like it just alittle thicker but will be made alot this winter!! Served it with grilled Ham and Chesse Sandwiches. Thank You KC for a great recipe.