Sunday, November 13, 2011

Tomato Basil Soup






This recipe is actually a "Copy Cat" recipe for a famous department store's soup. It is a great knock-off but the original recipe makes 128 servings!!! I usually halve it and it still makes probably 8 qts of soup so be ready to eat and/or freeze the soup. It freezes and reheats well.














1/2 cup olive oil
1.5 lbs carrots, chopped
1.5 lbs onions, chopped
6 cups canned, peeled plum tomatoes
2 TBS dried basil
1/2 lb chicken base
1 gallon water
1 to 1.5 qts heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

In a large stock pot, saute the olive oil, carrots and onion at medium heat for 15 minutes. Add the tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer.

In a large bowl, whisk the chicken base into the water until dissolved. Add the water mixture to the stock pot, bring to a boil and then simmer for 45 minutes.

Puree the soup using a hand blender while adding the cream until it reaches a thin consistency or in my case, it's the color I want.