Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

Have you ever had one of those moments when you feel like your head is being squeezed in by two giant fists right above your ears?

Me neither. 

Just kidding. It happens to me a lot. Today, in fact. My life right now seems to reach the highest threshold of crazy more frequently. It's like I'm making a giant cake, and just when I think things are stacked tall and perfectly sound, someone asks nicely for more layers, more piping, more flowers, more pears, more everything! I don't really mind - I love making the "cakes of life," but man does it call for a few rounds of chocolate before I can pull myself out of the coma aftershock.

Nothing a good nap can't fix, right? Thank heavens I have a wonderful husband who will let me close the door, and sleep off the crazy for an hour. My Grandma used to call her short power naps "taking off the edge." It's true. The crazy is still there when I wake up (it never sleeps after all), but it's less of a headache.

Moral of this story: 

life is crazy.

take the nap. 

always take the nap. 

things will seem better afterwards.

- - - - 

This soup was pretty simple and straight forward. The original recipe, however, was begging for something that I was surprised wasn't listed in the original ingredients. Whenever you have a recipe with a great deal of tomato paste/sauce/etc, you've gotta add a bit of sugar. It balances the flavors out, and is one of those basic things you never leave out with the set of ingredients listed. Sounds strange, but trust me.

They weren't kidding when they said "fire roasted" - this stuff is SPICY! (Or maybe we're just a bunch of wussies.) Ryan actually liked the heat. I, on the other hand, wasn't a big fan. So I balanced the heat with a pile of oozing cheesy paninis. Dunking it was a match made in heaven, and should probably be listed as one of the ingredients. So furthermore, make this with grilled cheese. It's a must, and takes the soup up to a solid 10. Toss this on your menu for soup night - you won't regret it.

xo, 

blondie

Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

makes 8 servings

ingredients:

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

EVOO

28oz can whole tomatoes 

2 14oz cans fire roasted diced tomatoes

8oz can tomato sauce

6 oz can tomato paste

1 T granulated sugar

2 C water

2 C chicken broth

2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

1 1/2 C heavy cream

 method: 

1. In your large soup pot, heat about 2 T EVOO over medium heat. Toss in onion and saute until almost translucent. Add in garlic and cook for another minute. 

2. Toss in tomatoes, sauce, paste, water, sugar, chicken broth. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 25-30 minutes to bring together the flavors. 

3. Puree with an immersion blender until creamy - we don't like the lumps, so we puree it until it's the consistency of a smoothie. 

4. Slowly pour in heavy cream, add salt and pepper, simmer for another 5 minutes. Taste and adjust with seasonings to your liking. Serve with grilled cheese. 

*I made the design on the soup surface by piping on straight parallel lines of sour cream, then dragged a skewer one way, then then opposite way in parallel lines the opposite direction. 

recipe adapted from: full time mama