Cream of Tomato Soup

By eapeterson

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 1 medium onion, peeled, quartered and sliced
• 1 – 28 oz. can plum tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 2 cups chicken stock or canned chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• pinch of cayenne or dried hot pepper flakes (opt)
• pinch allspice
• 2 whole cloves or a pinch ground cloves
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup half-and-half

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

Melt the butter over medium heat in a heavy saucepan, add the onion, and sauté, covered, until translucent, 3 or 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juices, the tomato paste, chicken stock, brown sugar, bay leaf, cayenne (if desired), allspice, cloves, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf and strain the soup over a bowl. Puree the solids in a blender or food processor, adding some of the strained liquid as needed. Rinse the saucepan. Return the liquid and puree to the saucepan (strain the puree through a fine-mesh sieve if you wish), add the half-and-half, and bring the soup to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes and taste for seasonings.