An easy, smooth and creamy San Marzano tomato soup, made with garlic, basil and sweet, flavorful imported Italian tomatoes grown in the volcanic soils in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius near Napoli.
A simple vegetarian homemade soup perfect for chilly days, served together with some grilled cheese panini or bruschetta.
I started with a nice sofrito, made of sweet organic onions I picked up at the farmer’s market last weekend, and some organic root vegetables. Simmered that together with my San Marzano tomatoes (<-amazon), buzzed them all up together, and finished with a touch of cream.
If you want to go for a vegan version replace the heavy cream with cashew cream, or just leave it out completely. Truth is you really don’t need it.
In all honesty I was just feeling a little artistic. Look: I think that’s a flying Italian stallion in my soup. TeeHehe..
Some crushed red pepper flakes for a nice kick to open up my sinuses, and tons of fragrant fresh basil made this soup simply the best!
San Marzano Tomato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 x 28 oz cans San Marzano tomatoes (whole)
- 1 large sweet onion -diced
- 4 cloves garlic -minced
- 1 medium carrot -diced
- 1 stalk stalk -diced
- 1 parsley root -diced
- 1 leaf bay
- 4 c vegetable stock low sodium
- 1/4 c heavy cream (optional)
- 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 20 leaves basil roughly torn
Instructions
- Heat up the olive oil on medium flame in a large enameled cast iron pot. Add the onion and a pinch of sea salt and saute for about 5 minutes.
- Add the diced carrot, celery, parsley root and bay leaf. Saute together for an additional 10 minutes until the veggies begin to soften and add the garlic. Cook one more minute.
- Roughly crush the tomatoes with your hand and add them to the sofrito. Give everything a good stir then add the stock. Bring to a gentle simmer and allow to cook for 30 minutes.
- Stir in the cream and simmer a couple more minutes. ( Optional)
- Remove the tomato soup from the flame and blend it using an immersion blender until desired consistency is achieved. ( For a rustic texture only give it a buzz or two and leave some tomato chunks in there)
- Add the fresh basil reserving a couple of leaves for garnish. Ladle the soup into bowls and finish with a few drops of extra virgin olive oil and a drizzle of cream. Garnish with tiny basil leaves.