Serves approximately 4
You'll need:
-1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
-1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes (I used 'Contadina' but would have used San Marzanos if I had them)
-4-5 cloves of garlic
-1 yellow onion (medium sized) chopped
-fresh parsley (a small bunch)
-fresh thyme (" ")
-1 bay leaf
-1 teaspoon of dried oregano (I'm pretty sure I used this- if not, it won't hurt anything to add to your version)
-handful of beautiful, fresh basil (I used the last batch of my potted stuff- It wasn't uber abundant but still made a delicious soup so just use what you have. Melissa, go to the store in the fresh produce area to accumulate all of these fresh herbs. They've gotta be fresh)
-3 tablespoons (or so) of freshly grated parmesan
-red wine (if you have it, if not just omit)
-1/2 cup chicken stock (or more if needed- I'm just estimating here)
-1/2 cup milk or use however much you want until you achieve the desired pink-ish color (I had some evaporated milk left over with some 1%....I feel like the evaporated milk added to the creaminess of the soup, but I could be making that up)
-special need: kitchen twine. the butcher can hook you up with this but some big grocery stores sell this
What you do:
-heat your olive oil in a stock pot over medium heat and sautee your onions and garlic, adding a pinch of salt
-using kitchen twine, tie your parsley, thyme, and bay leaf together and add to the stock pot
-sprinkle in your oregano (if using)
-once you have some color on your onions and they are translucent, de-glaze your pot with a splash of red wine
-allow that to reduce down for a couple minutes (again, skip this step if you don't have red wine)
-add your can of tomatoes, and another big pinch of salt (according to Ina, tomatoes take in A LOT of salt)
-add your chicken or vegetable stock and bring this up to a boil, then turn it back down to a simmer
-I probably let it simmer for close to 30 minutes or so, but you could go longer if you put the heat on reallll low
-grate your parm into the soup and stir, then taste for seasonings
-put your soup in a blender and add the basil
-heat your milk up in the microwave for 30 seconds to get it to room temp (my dear friend Jenni reminded me of this VERY important step so that the milk doesn't curdle! Or any dairy products you cook with, for that matter)
-add the milk to the soup in the blender and blend away, adding the amount of milk you want until the soup looks like the color you want it to (could that have been a longer sentence?)
***some notes: you could add so much variation to this soup, such as sauteeing carrots with the garlic and onion, adding red pepper flakes, using white wine, or even balsamic vinegar to deglaze....etc.
(Sorry friends, by the time I remembered to take a photo, I had eaten half of it. It was so tangy and scrumptious I'm surprised I even remembered to take a pic!)
You're gonna need to make a grilled cheese with this to dip. It's actually mandatory.
on a side note, the next soup I will be making I had last night at my friend Megan's house- she made Giada's white bean soup (I think that's what it's called?) and HOLY AMAZING was it good. I never thought white bean soup could taste so good. And Megan had it PERFECTLY, I mean PERFECTLY, seasoned...so much so that I secretly envied her perfect seasoning skills (as my hand has been a little heavy with salt lately...trying to work on it). Also, she made another Giada dish (didn't catch the name) but it was packed with delicious things and good things FOR you (lots of great veg!)- it was the perfect "having guests" menu. Thanks again for having me, Megan!!!
Seriously, my all-time favorite soup. I was a skeptic, having never touched tomato soup even as a child. But this soup is incredible, so easy, so cheap. You can make it with or without a blender but the blender definitely helps! :)
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