I’m serious. This is the best ever. I did the field work for you, and have found perfection.

Of course, there is a caveat here in that everyone’s tastes are different, but for reals, this is the best.

I began working with tomato soup at the beginning of winter. My wife and I host her crochet clutch each Christmas for their party. I had already made the decision to make them Yankee pot roast as the main cause, but what to serve for the soup course? I had never made tomato soup before, so off I went. For about a month I began working on the recipes, variations, seeing what other people did and over time. We ate a lot of questionable soup of varying quality during those weeks. Eventually, though, bingo! I food this one, and I wanted to share it with you because let’s face it, the world feels out of control right now and the comfort a great bowl of tomato soup just might be what gets us through.

So now, the ingredients list.

Procedure

Let’s dive into how to make this very simple yet delicious and winter-sustaining dish.

First, crush and slice the garlic. Then, slice the onions, both of them. This feels like way too many onions, I know, but trust me. Both onions, sliced. Then melt the butter in a large Dutch oven and once melted, add the garlic and let that sizzle for about a minute, then all of the onions. Stir over medium to high heat. Don’t intentionally burn the onions, but don’t get weirded out if they brown the pan a bit. There is flavor in those scorch marks!

When the onions reduced down significantly, add all of the tomatoes. Stir, and as you stir, crush some of the larger tomato bits. Let those simmer together, just the onions, tomatoes, and butter for about ten minutes.

Add the basil, then slowly add the vegetable broth. Let this cook for another five minutes, then add the sugar. The sugar is not to sweeten it, but to offset some of the acidic bite. Unlike other recipes which work too hard on this, I think we want some of that acidic flavor, I mean, after all, this is TOMATO SOUP here. We want to taste those delicious vine ripened red globes of goodness.

Let this cook for another five minutes or so, stirring occasionally.

It is at this point you bring out your hand immersion blender. Blend the soup directly in the Dutch oven for about three or four minutes, or until smooth. This is one of my favorite parts, because playing with the immersion blender is fun.

When you finish blending, stir in the pecorino cheese. Bring the soup to a bubble, and then turn the heat off, cover with a lid, let set for about twenty minutes. Don’t worry, if it is a good Dutch oven, it will remain plenty hot, but the rest gives all those flavors time to learn to dance together. To be fair, I would likely be better to make this the night before, let it set in the fridge, then warm it up and serve it. Soups, stews, chowders, and chili all taste better the second and third day.

After twenty minutes, serve with your favorite crackers, toasted bread, croutons, or a decadent grilled cheese sandwich. I usually put some more pecorino on top, and maybe some of that basil laying around.

Options and Variations

The first variation is the broth. Many people will want to prepare this with chicken brother. Most recipes do, but mine does not because chicken masks the wonderful flavor of the onions, whereas a vegetable broth brings it out.

A second variation is cream. Most recipes for tomato soup call for a heavy whipping cream to be added. This is always justified for ‘bringing down the acidity’ which I think is ridiculous. ITS TOMATO SOUP! Forget the cream, this is not a bisque.

People who use chicken broth and cream in their tomato soup are wanting to pare back the tomato-i-ness of the soup. I don’t now why anyone would want to do that.

A third variation is the cheese. I prefer pecorino precisely because it is a bit milder than parmesan, but regular old parmesan will work just fine as long as it is freshly grated. Never buy pre-grated cheese unless you have no other recourse.

A fourth variation is the basil. Many times I have skipped the basil altogether and the soup is delicious. It doesn’t have that next level roof-of-the-mouth joy that basil gives, but it is just fine without it and maybe even more palatable to people who like food a little on the boring side.

A fifth variation are the tomatoes themselves. Again, Manzano are preferred, but I have taken to using half Manzano and half regular diced tomatoes. I can hear a purist out there shouting about fresh tomatoes, but I see no advantage here as canned tomatoes are wonderful and you don’t have the problem of peels and seeds.