Comfort Food

Q: Is there anything more perfect than tomato soup and grilled cheese?

A: Nope.

           

            Moosewood has a fantastic recipe for Spicy Tomato Soup that I whipped together quickly after class and ate up just as fast. It was so good! I paired the soup with a basic cheddar grilled cheese from my own repertoire. It was a delicious winter recipe that I will definitely make again and again.

            Now, the soup is called Spicy Tomato, but I wouldn’t really call it spicy. I did not use the recommended “lots of freshly ground black pepper” but rather just a few sprinkles. So I’m sure that had a lot to do with it. I’m not really a fan of making things spicy by just adding a lot of pepper though. The canned tomatoes I used for the base also already had some heat in them, so I was hoping that would compensate. I think the soup would be good either way. My milder version is definitely delicious.

            The other slightly off thing was the soup’s thickness. Moosewood does not indicate that you should puree the mixture at any point. Rather, the few ingredients are meant to by diced and minced into submission. I absolutely detest mincing by hand. I find it incredibly tedious and frustrating. Now, I fully realize that this is mostly due to my inefficiency. I am a slow chopper; despite attempts to learn better strategies. I did my best with this recipe to get the pieces as small as I could, but I got discouraged quickly. The fresh tomatoes were particularly chunky in the final mix. Even if I were a better mincer though, I still would recommend taking an immersion blender to this soup. I think it would only help. The chunkiness was not off-putting or unappetizing, just not what I’m used to with tomato soup.

            The sour cream, stirred in at the very end, adds a delightful creamy thickness to the soup. You only need a tablespoon; it’s enough to do the trick.

            If and when I make this again, I will be sure to experiment with more black pepper or maybe a little cayenne. I will also attempt to mince the tomatoes and onions as much as humanly possible to make a smooth, creamy bowl of heaven. I’ve got 224 recipes to go and 340 days to make them!