Attack of the killer tomatos!

Tomato soup comes from a can, doesn't it?

I love Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup. Really. It comes out of the can a gelatinous mass, and turns into yummy satisfaction just by adding water and heat.

What's not to like? Throw some Goldfish, cheddar cheese or rice in the bowl and you have yourself a meal. But when Campbells started adding wheat and corn syrup to tomato soup, well - waiter, check please!

I had always read recipes for tomato soup that looked so stinkin' hard. Roast the tomatos, then puree, then simmer. Blanch and then sautee. Make stock from scratch and then blanch, sautee, roast and simmer. It sounded like a lot of work.

This book promised me it would not be that hard.

This book even let me use canned tomatos.

I LOVE this book.

I gathered a handful of ingredients. Garlic, onion, butter, salt, pepper, a carrot, tomato paste, canned diced fire-roasted tomatos (see, someone else did the hard work for me! Thank you Muir Glen.) and water. That was it.

Did I mention I was watching the royal wedding that day? I did not want to be disturbed by some needy soup demanding to be stirred and comforted all day whilst I basked in the fairy tale with my lovely daughter. I wanted mindless cooking. I was leary, but the book had made me a promise. So I said my "I do's" and committed to making the soup.

Melt the butter in the pot, add the minced garlic and onion and let them soften. Then toss everything else in and simmer. It took less than 10 minutes from cutting board to pot - thank goodness for TiVo and the pause button. So, I let it simmer, and cook, and cook, and cook.

Well, I had to watch the kiss!

Then when I thought it was ready, I poured it into a large bowl and used the immersion mixer on it. (Note: Isn't it lovely to have a recipe that lets you decide when it is done? Like lite soup? Cook 30 minutes. Like rich hearty soup, cook longer. Excellent.)

Voila! Tomato soup. It was that easy. And it was a million times better than Campbells. Not because I made it, but because of the ingredients.

This will be my go-to soup from now on. My daughter put chicken and rice in her first bowl. In the second bowl, which followed shortly after first bowl, she added broccoli. I opted for golden rose rice. I think just about anything would have worked in this soup. Really. It was slightly creamy, just thick enough, very flavorful and super-easy. Too bad I only had one bowl, my daughter commandeered my soup again.

I have to make something she won't like.......