Hi All! The very first time I had REAL tomato-basil soup for the first time at
The Noodle Cafe when I was about 12 or 13. This little gem is in a small suburb of Chicago (where I grew up) and to this day it’s still one of my all time favorite restaurants. There are a few reasons for this:
1) The food is amazing. I can rarely say I’ve never had a bad meal when I’m taking about restaurants, but this is one of the very few I can say that about.
2) All of there food is made from scratch…including their pasta (duh)
3) The restaurant itself is teeny tiny…teeny tiny in the best way possible, with only a handful of tables. It’s always so intimate and cozy in there; perfect for a date night.
4) They have some of the most personal, friendly staff you could ask for, with amazing service.
Anyways, this place is known for a few things, there pastas, their caesar pasta salad (yea you’re reading that correctly) and last but not least….their creamy.tomato.basil.soup. This soup is like punch yourself in the face good. I don’t know what it is, but there’s SOMETHING about this soup that sets it apart from every other tomato-basil soup. Now that the weather has started to cool down here in LA it’s finally getting to be appropriate soup weather which gets me so excited not only for this soup, but to be able to start wearing chilly weather clothes again….scarves, boots, cute jackets, yay! Okay, back to soup… I’ve made this dozens of times and think I finally got it close enough to The Noodle’s version. I hope you all enjoy this soup as much as I do…I mean who doesn’t love tomato soup, right?!
xx Jenny
Creamy Roasted Tomato & Basil Soup
Makes 7 cups
Ingredients:
1 ½ lbs Roma tomatoes, sliced lengthwise
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 cups basil leaves, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons dried basil
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
2/3 cup heavy cream
garnish:
fried basil
goat cheese, crumbled.
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Spread tomato halves onto a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Roast tomatoes for about 1 hour.
4. While tomatoes are in the oven, melt the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat.
5. Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes.
6. Stir in the garlic and thyme and sauté for another 5 minutes.
7. Add crushed tomatoes, basils and sugar. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Stir the mixture and reduce the heat to medium or medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes, covered.
9. Pour broth and roasted tomatoes into the pot. Season with salt and pepper.
10. Continue to simmer soup, covered, for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
11. Carefully pour soup into a blender and blend until smooth.
12. Pour soup back into the pot and stir in the cream until fully incorporated.
13. Simmer the soup for 3 minutes before ladling into bowls.
14. Top each soup with a sprinkle of goat cheese and fried basil and serve hot.
{ 67 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m weak. Like, seriously weak. This is my next soup. Holy crap, I can’t move. GORGEOUS.
Just made it. So easy & really tasty. I didn’t have canned crushed tomatos so I substituted 1 can tomato sauce & a little water. Plus, I used home grown Beefmaster tomatos quartered. Came out great!
Ok, it’s settled. I’m making this TONIGHT. I LOVE creamy tomato soup, and this sounds divine.
Also, side note, yes, I’m staying home on a Friday night to make soup.. My license says I’m 24 but really it appears I’m 74. You decide.
Are you kidding?! That sounds like a pretty amazing Friday night to me! I’ll be 74 with you, nbd
Hope you like the soup!!
Sounds like a FANTASTIC Friday night to me! And I’m 25!
Right there with you! I’m 24 and i was gaga to make this, turned out SOO good!
And I’m 20… I’m spending my Spring Break at home, cooking all of these delicious recipes.
Best Spring Break ever!
Ok, I’m not the biggest fan of a tomato, but this – this is glorious.
Roast it, add some herbs, heavy cream and goat cheese – gimme gimme!
I want a bowl of this with a grilled cheese sandwich.
On a dark rainy evening, comfort in a bowl; hot homemade soup with nice crusty bread. I have some strangling odds and ends of tomatoes and basil that need a touch of luster and this recipe is perfect.
This soup is to die for….
OMG!!!!! What awesome pictures………..
Lovely.
Simple food and food photography at its best. Glorious and oh so clever.
This soup is pretty and soo yummy looking!
This makes me want to hunker down at home with a bowl of soup and an America’s Next Top Model marathon in the background. (My guilty pleasure is eating comfort food while watching that show).
Love your blog–photos and food are both incredible. I linked to one of your recipes this week in my blogger potluck. If you’d like to check it out, you can find it at http://www.muchtomydelight.com/2011/10/blogger-party-potluck-spooky-supper.html.
Thanks, and have a great weekend:) Jenn
I am so enticed by your photo of the roasted tomatoes! I looooove tomatoes, and roasting makes them sweet, tender, and perfect for soup. Can’t wait to try this.
I made this soup last night, and it turned out amazing! I had never made tomato soup before…and even thought I didn’t like it. But I saw this post and it looked so yummy I had to give tomato soup another try. It was pretty easy to make too!
I did a little step by step of this recipe on my blog, http://www.amandakbythebay.blogspot.com. I linked back to your site a couple of times of course! Thanks again for the awesome recipe!
Wow! This soup looks like all kinds of amazing. Yum!
This looks amazing! I am so making this soon! Love slow roasting tomatoes…
This sounds so delish! I am making it tomorrow night. My husband and I and our 3 little kiddies had the most delicious tomato soup EVER skiing in Switzerland at a little tiny hut….I’ve been trying to recreate it ever since and have tried 3 or 4 recipes in several different ways…but, this looks like it could be it. Yum, yum.
sounds amazing, will have to try it out as soon as I find basil on these islands!
I made it Friday night and it is fantastic! Almost just like one I love from a local deli. I wasn’t in a goat cheese mood, so I made parmesan crisps and crumbled them over. So good!
Perfect with a grilled cheese! Oh man.. I want this for dinner…
Match made in heaven! Basil really goes very well with any type of tomato dish. Hot or cold tomato dish, name it…Basil has to go there somewhere. Lovely soup recipe…will definitely try!
Oh, wow, this is so beautiful! Just used the last of my homegrown basil, but I will find some more to make this. And I love the bowls.
It must be tomato soup season. I just made some myself, and I’m eating the leftovers right now! I love the idea of roasting some of the tomatoes for the soup, AND using butter. Mmm, butter. And I love your beautiful photos.
You have a beautiful site…just “stumbled” upon you. Great recipe!
This sounds awesome! Hopefully I can get my hands on some good tomatoes and try this soon!
yum yum yum!!! Roasted tomatoes are my absolute favorite! I cannot WAIT until the weather gets cold down here in Texas!
All I can say is YUM. Must make this soon before tomatoes quickly go out of season
I made this (and wrote about today! http://www.ladychirpsalot.com/2011/10/tomatoes-and-basil-and-soup-oh-my.html) and it was delicious! Thanks for the recipe and the GORGEOUS food styling and photography! SFB is definitely my new favorite recipe site
Yay! So glad!
This looks incredible!
Can’t wait to try it out when it gets colder around here.
Yummy, tomato soup is my favorite.
This looks FANTASTIC! I am going to make some small tweaks on my end, but thank you so much for the post. Yum. Yum.
This looks awesome. It’s warming up now in Sydney, but there’s still cool evenings for a healthy soup like this!
I am making this right now, and I must say after a few tastings, and half of my goat cheese gone (the gf wont stay out of it) This is going to be fantastic.
I am also serving it with my ultimate grilled cheese: swiss, cheddar, provo, tomatoes, bacon mayo on texas toast!
Thanks!
That grilled cheese sounds AMAZING….Texas toast? Yes please! Glad you like the soup…and goat cheese
absolutely beautiful pictures! i can’t wait to make this soup with a grilled cheese sandwich!!!
I was 24 years old when I finally started to like tomato soup, now I’m fighting to get back all those years I’ve wasted! This is going immediately into my repertoire. And indeed it’s getting cold in LA, it was ~58 last night and I was freeeezing (so sad too, because I’m originally from NY, and it’s snowing out there. HAH!)
Thank you for this delicious recipe! I am a tomato soup FANATIC…it is my ultimate comfort food. I looooove cooking soups in the fall and am always trying out new recipes. I was looking for a yummy fall dish to curl up next to by the fireplace on Halloween while the trick-or-treaters stopped by. I’ve made homemade tomato soup many times but never thought of roasting the tomatoes…let me tell you, it makes a huge difference in flavor! This was so yummy and really hit the spot! The goat cheese on top is a fantastic twist. Cheers!
So, I just made this soup on Sunday and it is SO good! I’m a college student and it was the easiest thing to make! Thank you!
I have never cooked with heavy cream before so I was wondering when you pour the cream in, do you whip it first or just pour it in in the liquid form?
Nope, no whipping involved. Just stir it right in!
mmm that looks like a great comfort food, thanks for sharing
Made this soup last nite and it’s fab! Only had 1 lb Roma tomatoes, so I used 1/2 lb cherry tomatoes (only roasted those about 30 min) and it worked great! Thanks for such a nice recipe.
I just bought glass containers so I can make this soup again and freeze them for later. One of my fav soups EVER!!! Tomato is always the go-to soup of choice and this was ridiculously easy to make – so much better tasting and for you than canned. thank you!!
Finally got to making this and it was FANTASTIC!!! Thank you!
http://ailovesthis.blogspot.com/2011/11/warmth.html
I cant wait to try out this recipe. It looks great. Thanks for sharing.
We made this last night, and it is the BEST soup ever! We’ve already posted the link on Facebook and friends and family will be making it this week too.
You grew up near The Noodle? Me too! Did you go to New Trier? Small world! This looks delicious!
This recipe was first time ever making tomato soup and it turned out oh so good, especially served with some homemade sourdough bread. I made some adjustments though:
1 – Even though I was dead set on making this on Sunday, when I went food shopping on Saturday, the supermarket did not have ANY fresh basil (it is winter after all). Given the selection of fresh herbs I had to choose from, I went with tarragon. I used one good handful in place of the fresh basil and it really added a nice flavor to the soup.
2 – I added only 1/3 cup of heavy cream, and I think that’s all it needed really. Maybe even 1/4 cup would suffice and still make for a nice and creamy soup.
Thanks so much for a wonderful recipe!
I made this soup tonight for a few friends and myself…HOLY COW it was INCREDIBLE. Just the right amount of everything, the flavors really come together beautifully in a tomato soup that is so warm and creamy. Its like a soup dream come true haha. I HIGHLY recommend that everyone make this at least once, you definitely wont regret it! (although I did have to blend a little at a time, blender explosions of tomato soup are no good haha)
This was absolutly amazing! Im never buying store bought ever again. Thank you for sharing
Just made this (Yes, it is 1am.) And holy moly it is delicious. I added a little fresh grated parmasean to it, but otherwise kept it the same. SO DELICIOUS. I can’t wait to eat a big bowl of this with a grilled cheese made on my roommates fancy shmancy grilled cheese maker. Sounds like a perfect Friday night to me.
I didn’t have any fresh basil, so I made this with just a little dried basil and it was still delicious! I also added a little chili powder for a kick. Thanks for the recipe
I made this last night and it was delicious!! LIght on the tummy but very satisfying. Ive now got TWO soup recipes which i’ll be making often this coming winter (pumpkin was the other one).
I just made this. delicious! great job. i will be using your website more often.
thanks!
Great to hear!
made this for dinner, everyone kept saying how much like a sort of meatless bolognese it was! we agreed that taste wise it is down right delicious; as a soup, even with grilled cheese on the side, it was a little too intense. converted the leftovers into a pasta dish the next night though; yum yum yum. thanks for the recipe! i have filed it under “sauces”
I would think that if you really like roasted tomato soup, then you could add a little more of the chicken stock to thin it out and maybe cut back a little on the thyme as well so that the taste wouldn’t be so intense. Just a thought.
Trying to find recipes so that I can use my plethora of tomatoes from our garden I stumbled upon this recipe and can’t wait to try it. I’m not going to use roma tomatoes, but instead a selection of heirlooms….I hope it works!!
Two thumbs up! We made this last night and it was delicious!! We just used the ugly “canners” from the farmers market because they were a dollar a pound and used milk instead of cream. We served it with pesto grilled cheese. Yum! Thanks for the great recipe!
Made it. Loved it. Actually made a double batch!
I need some freezing instructions for the tomato basil soup. Leave out the fried basil and goat cheese when freezing and add when serving? Any other freezing tips?
I haven’t been very lucky about freezing things that won’t come out yucky when thawed and heated up so…about when in this recipe would one stop and freeze it?
So when I tell you I’m incredibly picky about my tomato soup…I’m not joking. Because of that fact, I rarely am able to indulge in it. I made your recipe as a last ditch effort and must say…this was amazing!!! This will be my family’s recipe to go to for homemade tomato soup. I loved that it was creamy, with just the perfect amount of tartness. I recall that last time I made this, I think I ate it for every meal literally for days…all by my lonesome. I’m making a batch tonight as well. Yummy!!!
I’ve made this three times now and I LOVE it – definitely my favourite soup recipe!
I’ve made this about 5 or 6 times now. I’ve tried variations that didn’t really add anything (bacon instead of butter) and should have outright ruined it (WAY to much kale to sneak an extra serving of veggies for the family). No matter what I did, it was always consistently perfect. This soup is absolutely foolproof. What’s more, during a recent potluck at work this little baby was deemed “Most Likely To Come From A Really High-End Restaurant”. It’s easy to make and incredibly delicious.
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