The Wooden Spoon

Homemade Tomato Soup Recipe

Make This Winter A Nostalgic: Homemade Tomato Soup

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by

Grace
in
Our Kitchen Newsletter

ATTENTION fellow chefs! We’re calling all of our tomato lovers and avid soup connoisseurs to the kitchen for some exciting culinary news…a new recipe!

This week we are adding a little warmth and coziness to your winter season, we are taking you and your guests back to the good ole days with our delicious Homemade Tomato Soup. That’s right, this recipe will take you all the way down memory lane right to grandmas house where food was more than just a meal, the kitchen was the heart of the home and the aroma of simmering tomatoes filled the air.

Enjoy the warm, fresh taste of roasted tomatoes, infused with a hint of basil and garlic; each spoonful delivering a perfect balanced blend of sweet and tangy flavors. The subtle earthiness of the tomatoes is complemented by the rich undertones of sautéed onions and a touch of cream for a velvety finish. Pair this with a slice of toasted garlic bread or a gooey grilled cheese sandwich and I promise you’ll be begging for seconds and maybe thirds. Nothing screams a cold rainy day better than a delicious warm bowl of your favorite home cooked soup.

Enjoy!

Tomato Soup

Servings: 1 gallon
Oven Temp: —
Total Time: 45 min

Ingredients

  • Bacon – 8 oz
  • Standard Mirepoix – 1 lb
  • Garlic Cloves – 4
  • Chicken Stock – 3 qt
  • Blond Roux – 9 oz
  • Tomatoes – 2 lb
  • Tomato Paste – 24 fl oz
  • Standard Sachet d’Epices – 1 (plus 2 cloves)
  • Heavy Cream – 16 fl oz
  • Salt – 4 tsp
  • Ground White Pepper – 1, 1/4 tsp
  • Croutons – 8 oz

Directions

  1. Small dice bacon (if using) and set aside.
  2. Render bacon (if using) in a large sauce pot over medium heat, about 10 minutes. Add mirepoix and garlic. Sweat the vegetables over medium-high heat until tender, 8-10 minutes.
  3. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Whisk in the roux; blend well. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and sachet. Simmer at 185F until the tomatoes are cooked though, about 25 minutes.
  4. Remove and discard sachet. Puree the soup until it is smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Return it to a simmer slowly over medium-low heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes to adjust the consistency.
  5. The soup is ready to finish now, or it may be rapidly cooled and refrigerated for later.
  6. Return the soups to a simmer at 185F. Add the cream and season with salt and pepper. Serve in heated bowls or cups and garnish each serving with croutons.

Notes From The Chef

What is a Mirepoix?

A mirepoix is the French name for a combination of onions, carrots and celery. It provides a subtle but pleasing background flavor, supporting and improving the flavor of the finished dish. A mirepoix is universal and can be used in just about every recipe, but it is most commonly used with stocks, soups and sauces.

The standard ratio for a mirepoix is two parts onion, one part celery and one part carrot. For this recipe we will need 8 oz of onion, 4 oz of carrot and 4 oz of celery. This gives us our 2:1:1 ratio of mirepoix for 1 gallon of soup.

Also, accurate slicing and dicing is crucial in the culinary industry. Uneven cuts can result in parts of your food to be either under or overcooked which is not very appealing to our guests. When prepping for a mirepoix I like to medium dice all of my vegetables, that way everything looks uniform, cooks evenly and is easier to puree.

How to make a Blond Roux?

If you’ve never heard of a blond roux, don’t stress, it’s nothing too complicated if you know the basics of a roux. A blond roux is identified by the length of time the flour and fat are cooked together. There are four categories to a roux and all have their benefits. A blond roux is the second stage, it cooks slightly longer than a white roux, giving it a slight nutty flavor to your sauce.

The basic formula for a roux is simple, 60% flour and 40% fat. So for this recipe we will need 5.4 oz of all-purpose flour and 3.6 oz of butter to get our 9 ounces of roux. To prepare, add in the flour and butter and whisk continuously until there are no lumps. Once the roux begins to thicken (8 minutes), whisk until the roux turns a golden orange color. This is the perfect indication of a successful blond roux.

What is a Sachet d’Epices?

A Sachet d’Epices is a term referred to in culinary as, ” the basic aromatic preparations called for again and again in recipes“. Meaning when a recipe requires something like a sachet, it will usually consist of the same ingredients (vegetables, spices and herbs) that infuse into the liquid from the aroma of the sachet enhancing the flavors in your dish.

A sachet is similar to a mirepoix except the sachet is wrapped in cheese cloth and discarded later. A standard sachet consists of the following: 1 sprig of thyme, 3-4 parsley stems, 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp of uncracked peppercorns and 1 clove of garlic. For this recipe, we will need to add an additional 2 cloves of garlic to our sachet. I prefer using fresh herbs because they have a stronger flavor content than dried, but if you only have dried that will work just as good.

Place all of the herbs and spices in the center of the cheese cloth and fold all of the edges together. Using one end of the twine, wrap and knot the twine around the cheesecloth ensuring all openings are tied shut. (I like to double knot my sachet just incase the twine were to unravel while cooking). For easy discard, tie the longer piece of twine to the handle of the pot, this will keep the sachet in one place for easy clean up.

Kitchen Utensils

Listed are just a few of my favorite products that I use to achieve this recipe. These products are not mandatory, but may be beneficial you in your kitchen when cooking.

Stock Pots– My favorite cookware brand to use is Le Crueset. Yes, I know this particular brand is very expensive, but the quality plus the lifetime warranty is 100% worth the money. When I shop for cookware I mainly look for versatility, so a pot big enough for soups that can withstand high temperatures for homemade bread and is easy to clean is a steal for me. One who uses their kitchen frequently and loves to cook for their family needs to invest in high quality cookware. This saves you money in the long run and helps those who have a habit of accumulating items or becoming disorganized fairly quickly.

Knife Sets– One thing I look for in a good quality knife is the handle of the knife itself. Never purchase a set of knives where the blade is sandwiched between two pieces of plastic or wood. Overtime that blade will begin to loosen causing the knife to become unstable and move which is very dangerous when in use. The perfect indication of a high quality chef knife is the weight, the material and its sharpness. Mercer Culinary Knives are one of my top favorite brands; used in most restaurants, the blade stays sharp for clean, even cuts and is easy to handle with tougher ingredients.

Cutting Boards– I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, DO NOT use the thin flimsy cutting boards! Save your energy, avoid potential messes and get a sturdy wood cutting board. A great and inexpensive brand I recommend is Thyme & Table. Since I started cooking, this Thyme & Table Wood Cutting Board has been my favorite piece of kitchen cookware. Their high quality products are great for families that are looking for something durable, long lasting, reasonably affordable and best of all, conveniently located.

Cheesecloth & Twine– A cooking hack I learned in culinary school, that has saved me so much time and energy, is to use Unbleached Cotton Cheesecloths and Butcher’s Twine. Simply place all of your seasonings in the middle of the cheesecloth, then tie the ends together with the butcher’s twin forming a little bag called a Sachet. This is by far one of the easiest ways to dispose of inedible ingredients without the having to sift through your soup.

Immersion Blender– Although a food processor would work perfectly for this recipe, I prefer my Kitchen Aid Hand Held Blender. Two reasons, one, I absolutely hate doing loads of dishes at night and second, I despise appliance clutter. The great thing about this blender is that it’s hand held, so I can puree food directly from the bowl without transferring. This hand held blender comes with four attachments so you can puree, whisk, chop and blend conveniently during meal times.

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