Fast Tomato Soup

A few weeks ago I had an unexpected and totally fantastic friend stop by for dinner.  I had not planned anything and was very thankful my apartment was at least presentable. 

After examining the contents of my pantry and consulting with my internal cooking memory, I recalled a recipe I had seen a few weeks ago for a homemade tomato soup on Stephanie’s blog.  I knew I had the ingredients for a grilled cheese as well.  Not the most gourmet of meals but we were operating on a fast turnaround time.

Tomato Basil Pesto Soup

Tomato Basil Pesto Soup
Serves 2-3

• 1/2 onion, diced small
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 29oz. can plain tomato sauce (I used a box of Pomi Strained Tomatoes)
• 1 cup milk (at least 1%)
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp basil pesto (I used Classico Basil Pesto)
• salt & pepper, olive oil

1. Sauté the onion in 1/2 tbsp. olive oil for about 5 minutes, adding the minced garlic during the last minute.  Season w/ salt and pepper.
2. Add the tomato sauce and bring to a boil.  Turn down to a simmer, cover and cook 10-15 minutes. 
3. Stir in the milk, H20 and pesto.  Season with additional salt and pepper as necessary.
4. Cover and let simmer to warm for another 5 minutes before serving.

[/print this]

This was a decent, fast tomato soup.  Next time Matt said he would have added more garlic and perhaps some dried garlic, dried basil and dried parley.  I would also recommend blending the soup once done in the blender or with an immersion blender to make the soup smooth.  The onion and garlic chunks were a little odd.

All in all an decent soup – I will probably make this instead of buying a canned soup because it was a lot cheaper and did not take long at all to make. 

Thanks Stephanie for a great recipe.