Slightly Spicy Tomato Basil Soup

MMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmm….Good!  Soup is definitely one of my favorite things, especially if it has a little kick!  It is super chilly here on the east coast right now, but this zippy tomato basil soup will warm you right up and it is a cinch to make. The inspiration for this recipe was a parmesan cheese rind that I have been saving in my fridge.  I have always wanted to use one in a recipe, and I thought that this rind would be the perfect addition to a tomato basil soup…and I am always looking for a reason to make soup.  I really wanted to use fresh oven roasted tomatoes and fresh basil, but given that this is not the time year for tomatoes in NYC, I opted for a can of good quality crushed organic tomatoes with basil.  I will just have to make this soup again in the summer. Oh, darn!

Ingredients

• 1/2 TBS Ghee or Butter
• 1 28oz Can Crushed Tomato with Basil
• 1/2 Cup Shallots, diced
• 1/2 Cup Yellow Onions, diced
• 6 Cloves Garlic, diced
• 2 Cups Veggie Broth
• 1/2 Cup Fresh Basil, Diced or 1 TBS Dried Basil
• 1/4 Tsp Crushed Red Pepper *omit for a non-zesty soup*
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 1 Parmesan Cheese Rind

Directions

1. Melt the Ghee or Butter in a soup pot.  Sauté the onions, garlic and crushed red pepper until they are soft and slightly brown, about 5 minutes.

2.  Add the onion, garlic and the can of crushed tomatoes to your blender and blend until they are your desired consistency.  I don’t like chunks in my tomato soup, so I blended it until it was smooth.

3.  Return all of the blender contents to the soup pan.  Add the two cups of veggie broth and the basil and bring the soup to a boil.  Once your soup is boiling reduce the heat, add the parmesan cheese rind and simmer for 40 minutes uncovered, stirring occasionally.

4.  After you are done simmering your soup, remove the remainder of the parmesan cheese rind and discard.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with additional parmesan cheese, fresh basil if you have it and maybe a grilled cheese. Yay…Soup!

*Note – To make it vegan just use nutritional yeast instead of a parmesan cheese rind and use olive oil instead of ghee.  To make it Paleo, omit the parmesan cheese rind.*

I hope your holiday season is going great so far!

A little holiday cheer from my teeny xmas tree 🙂

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Tomatoes. This post has 2 comments.