Old Fashioned Tomato Soup

Late February and I can see the faint possibility of spring on the other side of a lot more gray weeks. I have been reading about something called coronavirus in the news — something happening in China, spreading in Italy. The public health people are saying it probably will not amount to much here. I filed it away somewhere between background noise and low-grade concern and made lentil soup.

The lentil soup was really the main event of the week, cooking-wise. Red lentils, carrots, onion, garlic, cumin, coriander, a squeeze of lemon at the end — the whole pot cost me maybe four dollars and made eight servings. I put it on the blog as a different kind of pitch: not just cheap, but actually fast. Red lentils do not need to be soaked. Twenty-five minutes from start to finish. On a Thursday night when I have nothing left after school, that matters.

Patty called with an update on the Easter planning, which is now a fairly involved production involving a new tablecloth she found on clearance and a question about whether Matt and Danielle are driving up from Springfield. She puts the same energy into Easter that other people put into weddings. It is one of the things I genuinely love about her even when it makes me laugh.

Ryan friend Mike from the firehouse had a birthday and a bunch of the guys came over to our apartment Saturday — I made a double batch of sausage soup and a sheet pan of garlic bread and it fed eight people for under twenty dollars. Firefighters, I have found, are an ideal dinner party audience: they eat everything, they compliment loudly, and they do the dishes. I am keeping all of them.

The lentil soup that week reminded me why I keep coming back to simple, inexpensive soups when life feels uncertain or just plain tired — and this old fashioned tomato soup is cut from the same cloth. It is the kind of recipe that costs almost nothing, asks almost nothing of you on a weeknight, and gives back warmth in a way that feels almost disproportionate to the effort. If you want the spirit of that four-dollar pot without hunting down red lentils, this is it.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 30 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cans (14-1/2 oz each) whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup heavy cream or half-and-half
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

Sauté aromatics. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
Build the base. Sprinkle the flour over the onion mixture and stir to coat. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes to eliminate the raw flour taste. Stir in the sugar, salt, pepper, basil, and thyme.
Add tomatoes and broth. Pour in the canned tomatoes with their juices, breaking up the whole tomatoes with a spoon. Add the broth and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.
Blend until smooth. Use an immersion blender directly in the pot to puree the soup until smooth, or carefully transfer in batches to a countertop blender. Return to the pot over low heat.
Finish and season. Stir in the cream and lemon juice. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Heat gently — do not boil after adding the cream. Serve hot.

Nutrition (per serving)

Old Fashioned Tomato Soup — The Four-Dollar Pot That Got Me Through February