I love a good tomato basil soup and I came across this as a subscriber to Greenwoman on Substack, a subscription network for independant writers and creators.

Sandra Knauf wrote, “as a kid, my favorite soup was Campbell’s Tomato Soup.”  This caught my eye because I also loved Campbell’s Tomato Soup as a child.  My favorite comfort meal  was tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich.

Today I’m sure we would all prefer a home made, organic tomato soup and this one hits the spot.

Sandra’s recipe calls for basil and cream and San Marzano tomatoes.  As per her post, San Marzanos sweet plum tomatoes are imported from Italy with a “DOP” Certified on the label. I was able to find Cento San Marzano Organic  Peeled Tomatoes.

I used basil that I grew from a seed packet I bought at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.  After the first year’s crop went to seed I separated them and saved them for next year.  This is the 3rd year of growing basil that came from Monticello.  See method in a previous post here.

So without further ado here is her creamy tomato basil soup

CREAMY TOMATO BASIL SOUP

CREAMY TOMATO BASIL SOUP

Serving Size: 6-8

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 Tbsp butter

• 2 yellow onions, (3 cups finely chopped)

• 3 garlic cloves, (1 Tbsp minced)

• 56 oz canned tomatoes (two, 28-oz. cans) with juice, preferably San Marzano, whole or crushed work equally well if you will be blending

• 2 cups chicken stock or bouillon and water or chicken bone broth

• 2 oz (about 1/4 cup) chopped fresh basil, plus more for garnish - or you can use 1 Tbsp dry

• 1 Tbsp organic sugar

• 1/2 tsp black pepper

• 1/2 cup organic heavy whipping cream, or to taste to combat acidity

• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus more for garnish

Instructions

1. 1. Heat a stainless steel soup pot or enameled Dutch oven over medium heat. Melt butter then add chopped onions. Sauté 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden. Add minced garlic and sauté 1 minute longer.

   2. Add tomatoes and their juice, chicken stock, basil, sugar, and black pepper. Stir, bring to a boil.

   3. Reduce heat. Simmer for 10 minutes.

   4. Blend ingredients in the cooking pot with an immersion blender or transfer to a blender in batches and blend until smooth (I only fill the blender 1/2 full at most and it’s best to wait until the soup cools).

   5. Return blended soup to the pot.

   6. Over medium heat add the heavy cream, freshly grated parmesan cheese and return to a simmer. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If it seems too acidic you can add more cream and/or sugar.

   7. Ladle into warm bowls and top with more parmesan, chopped fresh basil, and croutons.

Kathy's Notes

I used an immersion blender and it worked beautifully without the effort of transferring  into a blender. Most ingredients were organic.

By Sandra Knauf from Greenwoman via KathyMillerTime

Recipe Printed from www.kathymillertime.com

As I mentioned above I love this soup with a grilled cheese sandwich…Sourdough bread of course!  Baked fresh from an Amelia Island  local restaurant, Pogos Kitchen.  They sell it at their Pogo’s Market every Saturday. Also available, home made chicken pot pies, their special boiled peanut hummus, sandwiches, soups,  dips, salads all available during their Saturday market.

To see more from Greenwoman and Sandra Knauf visit her site here.  I also thought the story The Haunted Pot of Basil was interesting as we are talking basil here.

To visit Sandra Knauf’s  creamy tomato basil soup…

Greenwoman Publishing is a literary garden of fiction, creative nonfiction, how-to, poetry, biography, art, comics and more.

Hope you enjoy this creamy tomato basil soup.

Come celebrate with me.  I’ll save you a seat at the table.