#and what is the box of stock equivalent to broth cubes

[wilimia]

Tried this soup with @silverskog and @michyeoni ! Very yummy very good! Yeto really cooked with this one

I made yeto’s pumpkin/goat cheese/salmon soup and it’s changing my life a little bit, like holy SHIT this yeti knows what he’s doing

[sophrosyneadrift]

Soup’s Up

So...it’s been a LONG time since I’ve posted any of my own actual words on here, but I’ve been inspired by @bomberqueen17’s series on casseroles and my thinking is that, according to the season, I will try and manage one of my own about soup.

(Yes, yes, I understand that soups aren’t NEARLY as exotic as casseroles to the vast majority of people who don’t live in the parts of the world that eat casseroles, but as someone who DID grow up eating casserole on the regs they are both about as equally exotic. I.e. Not At All. And they’re both Cold Weather Foods and soups heat up the house when cooking too. So yeah.)

(Also independent of whatever else happens and whoever else reads this my current recipe collection is 1) in shambles and 2) soup-wise, largely dependent on a cookbook that’s disintegrating (Bakery Lane Soup Bowl my beloved) so this will, at the very least, serve as a good collection for my constantly ailing memory. Assuming this hellsite doesn’t croak forthwith. Whatever.)

SO, all that said...I think it’s best to start with a cheap, easy, and solid old standby: Tomato Soup.

This is a wonderful recipe because it’s not only incredibly fucking easy and fast in the world of soup, but ALSO requires at most three main ingredients sans spices and add-ins, and involves extremely little cleanup. This is the holy trifecta I look for when cooking, as I am 1) hypoglycemic, and thus short-tempered and often bewildered by recipes when hungry, 2) constantly forgetting things that are not staples at the grocery store, and 3) very much NOT into cleaning up after I’ve cooked, so the easier that process the more likely it is to happen.

But PLEASE get to the recipe, Kat, you say, and thus I will say you need these things: 

- some form of crushed tomatoes or sauce. I use canned crushed tomatoes usually. Whatever brand will work. You can use the type with garlic or other flavors thrown in. You can even use canned chopped tomatoes instead, if a chunkier tomato experience is what you like! I am not a picky cook. I AM fond of expediency.

- some sort of cream. Heavy or light or half & half is fine. I usually have half & half on hand so that’s what I use. 

- some sort of stock, or stock-forming substance with an appropriate amount of water. Beef or chicken or veggie will work. Bouillon cubes will work. Boxed broth will work. From scratch will work. My preference is Better Than Bouillon, chicken flavor, which is a paste type of thing you add to water. Knock yourself out. 

- flavorful add ins. You can be as fancy or simple as you want here. I, personally, enjoy just salt and black pepper to taste, with a good few shakes each of dried basil and oregano, and a couple of shakes of red pepper. Sometimes I add garlic powder if I remember but usually I don’t.

Now, for directions:

Take your tomatoes and put them in a pot. I’m not going to give you an amount that will work for you if you’re only cooking for one or two people, because I have only ever cooked this for minimum 4 hungry people, usually more. So I take a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes and whack it in an appropriately-sized pot. 

Add broth or water&bouillon combo until the tomatoes are about as watered down as you want them. This depends on what kind of tomatoes you’re using. If you’re using crushed tomatoes you’ll usually need about half as much broth as there are tomatoes (14 oz for a usual batch for me, so...a little less than 2 cups). If you’re using chopped tomatoes you’ll have to cook them down a bit & add a little less broth or equivalent. If you’re using proper tomato sauce (like a can of Bertolli’s) you’ll need to add a little more broth...like a little less than half a cup, maybe?? Idk. Depends on how you like your tomato soup. I like mine more tomato-ey. I also add more bouillon to my water than the package says to, because they can’t tell me what to do.

Heat this up on a little less than medium heat until it’s JUST barely at a boil. Keep an eye on it. Stir occasionally. Tomatoes are a bitch and a half to burn. 

When it’s heated, turn it down about two notches (!!) and add your cream. You want a good pour, that gets the color to about the point where it looks like Tomato Soup you may have had from a can at some point in your life. I never measure this part, but for my large recipe purposes I would use probably about...a quarter cup?? Maybe a little more?? Idk. If you like it creamier put more. Put your spices in too, at this point!

Keep this on the lower heat setting (and continue keeping an eye on it and stirring occasionally) until it’s thoroughly warmed through. Do NOT boil it; dairy is fragile. I usually stick my finger in to see if it’s warm enough, but I have a lot of heat tolerance and very few nerves left in my hands and can’t recommend you try this at home.

Once it’s warmed through, turn the heat ALL the way down to low and let it sit for about five minutes to let the flavors mingle even more. You can take this time to contemplate why it’s so fucking cold outside, or why the fuck you waited so long to eat something. You can also take this minute to make a grilled cheese to eat with your soup. I usually do a mix of those three options.

(My preferred quick grilled cheese is an everything bagel with pepper jack and ham, thrown in the toaster oven with the two halves open until the cheese melts and then taken out and squished together. I am a man of simple tastes.)

And finally: Eat!!! I recommend eating the whole thing. This soup was not necessarily made for leftovers, sadly (its only real weakness), although you CAN reheat it in a pinch.

And that’s all she wrote. I hope you enjoyed this! If not then please take appropriate measures, as I will probably be posting about soup intermittently for the foreseeable future. Please fasten your seatbelts for the rest of the soup journey.