Thank you to my fiancé's mom for this awesome soup recipe!
BEFORE YOU SCROLL: Ingredients are mostly by weight! The recipe comes from Germany, and I did my best to guesstimate U.S. equivalents, but do yourself a favor and get a kitchen scale, guys!
Ingredients:
Soup:
• 1 Onion (Vidalia is best), chopped
• 1 (read "2+") Garlic Clove, sliced
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 50g (1/4 cup) dry Red Wine
• 100g (4oz) Tomato Paste (a little more than half a standard 6oz tomato paste can)
• 800g (1.75lb) Fresh Tomatoes (every grocery store has a scale in the produce section, use it! But you're lookin' at about 9 Roma's or 6-7 medium tomatoes)
• 1 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Salt
• 1 Tbsp Pepper
• 2 Tbsp Dried Italian Herbs (Basil, Oregano, etc.)
• 300g (1.5 cups) Vegetable Stock (or Chicken Stock)
• 100g (1/2 cup) Half and Half (or Heavy Cream, you may even be able to get away with whole milk, but you kind of need the fat content to keep it from curdling when it hits the wine and tomatoes.)
Cheesy Bread:
• Crusty Bread, sliced
• 1 part Herbed Cream Cheese
• 2 parts Shredded Cheese (I used feta and shredded parm)
• Dried herbs
Instructions:
HINT – Measure and chop everything for the soup before you start - this goes FAST.
Heat a splash of olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the onion and garlic, sauté 3 minutes until the onions start to brown.
Turn the heat down to low. Add the wine and veggie stock. Scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the tomato paste, tomatoes, sugar, salt, pepper, and dried herbs.
Cover and simmer over low heat for 13 minutes.
While the soup is simmering, in a small bowl mix the cream cheese, shredded cheese, and herbs with a spoon. Lightly toast the bread. Spread the cheese mixture on one side of the bread, and broil the bread for 1-2 minutes until melted/brown.
Once the soup is done, turn off the heat and add the cream.
Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth. .
Serve!
Servings: 4-6, depending how hungry you are! =]
Made it? Comment below!
NOTES:
If you don't have an immersion blender...you have a few options:
• Use a potato masher
• CAREFULLY pour the soup into a blender in batches. Google safety protocols for blending hot liquids before you attempt this. No, seriously...I'll wait.
• Serve without blending. Totally works.
All ingredients added, ready to simmer!