Tomato Parmesan Soup

I have made this Tomato Parmesan soup more than any other soup in my repertoire. I’m sure you have noticed I am a soup person by now. I can’t wait for the first cold day in fall to make it, and I don’t get tired of it all winter. There are so many choices and soup is really easy to make. Easy to invent!

We love this soup best with a BLT. It acts as a dipping sauce/side dish. It can be vegetarian if you use vegetable broth in place of chicken broth. This makes enough for four bowls, or eight smaller cup portions and it freezes really well if that sounds like too much!

I have made this with canned tomatoes and fresh. I couldn’t tell the difference. Do treat yourself to the nicer canned tomatoes if you can. San Marzanos are a great choice. And yes, it has to be whole tomatoes, you’ll see why shortly.

TOMATO PARMESAN SOUP

28 oz. whole tomatoes in juice

16 oz reserved tomato juice

16 oz chicken broth

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped onions

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. sugar

2 tbs. olive oil

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Heat a heavy bottomed soup pot on medium low.

2. Strain tomatoes, reserving juice. Gently squeeze out any juice inside the tomato into the reserved juice. You want them reasonably dry.

3. Place on lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Roast uncovered for 20 minutes, set aside.

4. Melt butter in soup pot, add onion and celery and cook over medium low heat until onions are golden and tender.

5. Add flour, basil and sugar. Stir to coat, and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes.

6. Add chicken broth and reserved juice, whisk until fully blended. Simmer until slightly thickened.

7. Off heat, add the whole roasted tomatoes and blend with stick blender. Careful of splatters!

8. Return to low heat and stir in parmesan cheese.

To roast the tomatoes, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and top with parchment paper. The juice burns to the cookie sheet, you don’t want to clean it up. Start by fishing the whole tomatoes out of the can and gently (wear an apron!) squeeze the juice out of them into a bowl. They shouldn’t be too leaky when you bake them. Make sure to save all the tomato juice that came in the can and out of the tomatoes. 

Reserved juice.

Drizzle your tomatoes with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

While the tomatoes are roasting, prep your other ingredients.

Dice your celery into even pieces. You will blend them later, so they only have to cook evenly, not be pretty!

I almost always end up with 16oz of reserved tomato juice. You want 32oz of liquid total. If you find yourself short on tomato juice, sub in more broth.

¼ cup flour. 

You can add the sugar, flour and basil to a dish and set aside.

Onions and celery go into the pot together.

½ cup is a guideline, I usually grate a small haystack and call it good!

Flour and spices in the veggies.

Broth and reserved tomato juice added.

Roasted tomatoes out of the oven. Set these aside until your soup begins to thicken.

Once the soup seems slightly thicker, pop the tomatoes in and stick blend the whole thing until smooth. Add your cheese, stir till melted and you are ready to go! Eat, freeze or refrigerate until later, this soup is very forgiving!