Creamy Tomato Soup

Makes 5 ~2 cup servings

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1 medium carrot, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic (about a Tbsp.)

2-4 Tbsp. tomato paste.

1/3  C.  sofrito

1 tsp. dried thyme

2 bay leaves

1/2 C. red wine

28 oz can whole or diced tomatoes with juice

2 C.  tomato juice (I save mine when I use whole caneed tomatoes for salsa)

12 oz silken tofu

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed soup pot
2. add onions, carrot, celery and a sprinkle of salt
3. cook until the onions are translucent
4. add tomato paste, sofrito and thyme. Cook for 2-3 minutes until tomato paste darkens. Stir pretty constantly so tomato paste doesn’t scorch
5. add bay leaves and wine. Cook for a minute or two.
6. Add tomatos and juice. Bring to a simmer. Cook for 10-15 minutes uncovered. stir once in a while so tomatoes don’t burn on the bottom of the pan.
7. Add tofu and stir through. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes.
8. Blend in batches or with an immersion blender until smooth. Taste for seasoning.
9. Serve hot.

Cook’s Notes

This is based on Mark Bittman’s Creamy Tomato soup from his VB6 Cookbook.  I tarted it up a bit, because my experience of tomato soup recipes is that they tend to be a little flat and sweet.  I used a “sofrito” that is left over after braising chicken thighs for tacos (so yeah, totally vegan cheating) but reducing  a cup of fresh salsa with a a couple of teaspoons of chili powder will get you (nearly) the same effect.  I also added 1/2 cup of red wine. Tomatoes have alcohol soluble flavors. A shot of vodka or white wine would do virtually the same thing. Or skip it entirely. Overall I’m happy with this, though next time I’ll try blending and tasting before I add tofu. If you made your Campbell’s Tomato Soup with milk as a kid, this is perfect. If you made it with water, this might not be “tomatoey” enough for you. I’m firmly in the water camp.  I also added two extra tablespoons of tomato paste at the end of cooking. I was looking for more tomato punch. If I make this again I’ll add all four tablespoons at the beginning of cooking so the tomato paste mellows.