I never thought I’d be craving a vegetable soup. Until now.
In fact, I have strong memories as a kid, really hating the taste of tomatoes. Tomatoes even in a burgers were crossing the line.
During my weekly piano lessons, my teacher would throw back a little bottle of V8 vegetable juice, leaving her breath with the wretched smell of tomatoes.
I barely put up with tomatoes in đậu sốt cà chua because it came with fried tofu and the seasonings kind of mellowed out the tomato. How times have changed!
A few years ago, on a trip to Las Vegas, we stumbled into Earl Of Sandwich. Actually, I probably pulled some nerd-Yelping to find it. Anyways, we were all flippin’ out about how amazing the sandwiches were and dreaming of some portal to bridge the gap between Las Vegas and Orange County.
Fast forward to last month–when Earl Of Sandwich FINALLY opens up in Downtown Disneyland. A line snaked out the door while the live music jammed on, and there didn’t seem to be any sign of the crowd letting up on this small sandwich shop. I tried their amazing holiday sandwich, and some spoonfuls of the tomato soup which really put this soup on my radar.
In an effort to feed my girlfriend, I decided to try a recipe she found from Linda over at The Tart Tart (whose recipe origin is unknown). Linda’s photography is amazing, too!
I ended up halving the recipe, adding butter, and making some buttery grilled cheeses to go with it on the side. It was very easy and fun to make because I got to mess with an immersion blender too.
For the grilled cheese, just butter the bread, add cheese and heat on a pan over medium heat until browned outside and cheese is melted through.
- 1 14-ounce can of chopped tomatoes
- ⅛ cup olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 1 small carrot, diced
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tbsp butter
- Strain the tomatoes and set the juice aside. Put tomatoes onto a baking sheet and season with salt & pepper. Drizzle half of the oil over the tomatoes and mix. Roast until the tomatoes caramelize and turn a darker red. 15-20 minutes.
- Add oil to a pan on med-low heat and cook the carrot, onion, and celery until soft.
- Add the tomatoes, reserved juice, bay leaf and broth. Bring to a boil on high, then bring back down to low and simmer until veggies are soft. Add butter and use and puree with an immersion blender (or food processor/regular blender).
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