Cream of Tomato Soup

This is an Ina Garten recipe! Hubby does not love soups, but he really liked this one. I made some of my own modifications, by adding milk instead of cream to make it creamy but yet light. I also added some parmesan cheese to add some depth in flavor.

I made the soup with classic grilled cheese sandwich! It was sooo good! :) Comfort at its best ;)


Ingredients:

1 tablespoons good olive oil

1/2 cup chopped red onions
1 carrot, unpeeled and chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic (2 cloves)
8-10 small tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup packed chopped fresh basil leaves, plus julienned basil leaves, for garnish
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock,
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup milk
Croutons, for garnish

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and carrots and saute for about 10 minutes, until very tender. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, sugar, tomato paste, basil, vegetable stock, salt, and pepper and stir well. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes, until the tomatoes are very tender.


Add the milk to the soup and process it through a food mill into a bowl, discarding only the dry pulp that's left. Reheat the soup over low heat just until hot and serve with julienned basil leaves and/or croutons.