Cheesy Tomato Soup: A Love Story

Under any other circumstances, it might have been a very long winter, devoid of Summer's coveted ripe tomatoes and quite possibly, the very reason for my being. If it weren't for the bottom shelf of the canned food section in the supermarket next door, glowing like a beacon of light, I may never have found the San Marzano tomatoes, $1.79 for a 28-ounce can, and lovely in soups and stews, tomato sauces and more. Try them, you won't be sorry. So, I did, again and again, never pausing too long to long for a juicy plum or ripe vine treat. All winter long, I returned to that beacon of light, and reaped the benefits, in the form of this cheesy tomato soup. And so the love story begins...

Cheesy Tomato Soup
(Adapted from Mollie Katzen's The Enchanted Broccoli Forest)

1 tbs. olive oil

1 medium chopped white onion

1/2 tsp. salt

2 large cloves garlic, smashed, peeled, and minced

1/2 tsp. dried rosemary

1 tsp. dried basil

1 bay leaf

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 28-ounce can plum tomatoes, pureed in a blender or food processor

3 tbs. dry sherry

1 tsp. honey

4 oz./half a block or cream cheese

Heat the oil in a soup pot. Add onion, garlic, salt, herbs and black pepper. Cook over medium heat until onion is soft (~10 minutes). Add tomatoes, sherry, and honey. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Carefully remove bay leaf. Cut cream cheese into pieces and drop into the hot soup. Stir until smooth. Serve hot with good bread and a big salad. 

...and she invited him into her home. His name was Stew.

When I think of stew, I think of large chunks of beef in a soupy broth, but I've come to realize that stews need not be meat-centric to be flavorful. In fact, I've been making a flurry of stews this past week. My favorite was Tomatican, from none other than the Moosewood Collective's The Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home: Fast and Easy Recipes for Any Day. A Christmas present, this book is my current go-to for a quick and simple meal, one that doesn't require too much clean up or preparation.
A huge fan of soups, stews can stand alone and make for a nice topping for rice, barley, or quinoa. Last week, I made a Chilean stew called Tomatican twice. It goes something like this:


2 c. chopped onions
1 fresh chile, minced, or 1/4 tsp. cayenne
2 tbs. olive oil
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 c. frozen lima beans
3 c. undrained canned tomatoes, or 1-28 oz. can plum tomatoes
2 c. fresh or frozen corn
1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro (I used about 2x as much)
salt to taste


In a heavy nonreactive soup pot or saucepan, saute the onions and chile or cayenne in oil for about 5 minutes, until onion begins to soften. Add cumin and lima beans and saute, stirring, for a couple minutes. Add juice from the tomatoes, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Chop the whole tomatoes right in the can. Stir in the tomatoes, corn, and cilantro into the pan. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Add salt to taste.


I served this over quinoa seasoned with a bit of salt and fresh lime juice, and feta.

Homemade Vegetable Soup

Tonight I made homemade vegetable soup, a variation of a recipe from my mother's family recipe arsenal. While hers included juicy chunks of round cut beef, mine is vegetarian and chock full of veggies. A large pot costs roughly ten New York dollars. You could probably do it for 7 or 8 suburban dollars. Great for family feasts or for a week's worth of dinners for single folk, it's wonderfully supplemented by sourdough toast, but honestly, what isn't?! My father always made cheese toast in our oven toaster to accompany this one-pot wonder. Give it a try.

Homemade Vegetable Soup (vegetarian version)

1 bunch of celery, chopped

1 package of whole carrots, chopped

3-4 medium golden potatoes, skin on, chopped

1 package of frozen peas (about 2 cups)

1 28-ounce can of whole roma tomatoes

1 46-once can of tomato juice

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

olive oil
2 cups of water

1 large stock pot with lid

Once you've chopped all of the vegetables, heat a couple splashes of olive oil in your stock pot, and saute the onions until soft. Add carrots and celery. Stir the vegetables so they are all coated with a bit of the olive oil. Cover and cook over medium heat for 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, place your chopped potatoes in a microwavable container, and microwave on high for 8 minutes. Add the potatoes & canned tomatoes to the pot. With a spatula, chop the tomatoes into bite size pieces. Add the entire can of tomato juice, the water, the package of peas; give it a stir. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30-45 minutes, longer depending on how soft you like your vegetables. Salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy with caution. It will be hot!

Tonight, I enjoyed my soup with a glass of water with a fresh slice of lime. This, I think, is the ultimate cheap summer luxury.

Cleansing Tomato White Bean Soup

Lately, I've been craving simple meals, full of flavor, and fresh seasonal ingredients.

Too often, meals are complicated by an overabundance of ingredients, prepackaged sauces and seasonings, and over-processed flours, preservatives, etc.

Not this one. This one was perfect and clean. Eating it I felt fresh and renewed. Isn't it amazing how food can change your mood and make you feel completely different from how you felt before, relaxed, better, or uncomfortably worse? For this reason, I want to eat only foods that make me feel clean and alive.

Tonight, I cooked a beautiful soup, adapted from Cucina Nicolina.

White Bean and Tomato Soup

2 large cloves garlic, minced
4 cups spinach, coarsely chopped
1 can crushed tomatoes (or 3 tomatoes, diced, juices reserved)
4 cups vegetable broth or water (I used water with low sodium vegetable bouillon)
2 Tb. dried basil
1 can white beans
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the garlic in olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes, broth or water, dried basil, and beans. Stir well to combine. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Add the spinach, and simmer until wilted. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer, half-covered, for about 15 minutes. Serve hot.

Serves 4.

Add two slices of good Tuscan bread, and you've got a meal. Perhaps vanilla bean ice cream for desert....