Fresh Tomato Soup

Lately I've been trying to find a delicious tomato soup recipe. I made one not too long ago and was completely disappointed. I think it tasted pretty good, but I didn't care for the texture. It was very grainy, and in a soup that is not a good thing. I think the reason it was so grainy was because it called for Parmesan cheese. And, when I used my immersion blender it broke it up into grainy pieces. I could be wrong, though. Maybe it was just my cooking technique that messed it up. Who knows. Anyway, I decided to try another tomato soup recipe. The one that I tried last night was from the Better Homes and Garden New Cookbook. By the way, I highly recommend this cookbook if you don't have it in your arsenal. I thought the soup looked grainy once I blended it but the taste was perfect. I think I will still try another recipe maybe one that is called Tomato and Basil Soup. However, I recommend this recipe. I thought it had a wonderful taste and it was very warm. And, last night was definitely a comfort food night! I think it would go wonderfully with a delicious grilled cheese sandwich. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
3 medium tomatoes, peeled and quartered
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 c chopped onion
1/2 c chopped celery ( 1 stalk)
1/2 of a 6 oz can of tomato paste (1/3 c)
2 tbsp snipped fresh cilantro or basil
2 tsp instant chicken bouillon granules
1 tsp sugar
Few dashes bottled hot pepper sauce
Snipped cilantro or basil for garnish

I used 6 tomatoes from a vine because they were a tad on the small side. The recipe doesn't call for this, but since it says peeled tomatoes, I took a large pot of water and brought to a boil. I placed the tomatoes one at a time into the boiling water for about 30 seconds. I then transferred the tomato into a bowl of ice water. This helps to make the peeling process that much easier. Once the tomatoes were peeled, I sliced the tomatoes and remove the seeds. You don't have to do this, but I did. Chop up your onion and celery. Take a soup pot and add the onion, celery, tomato, water, tomato paste, the basil ( I used this instead of cilantro), bouillon granules, sugar, and hot pepper sauce. I didn't have hot pepper sauce, but I did have Pickapeppa. So, I used that as my hot pepper sauce. Also, I added a couple dashes of garlic salt. Bring this to a boil. Next, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer with a lid on the pan for about 20 minutes. You want the celery and onion to be tender. Remove from heat and cool for about 10 minutes or so. It says to place half the soup into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. However, I have an immersion blender, so I used this to blend my soup. Then return to the stove (if you used the blender) and heat the soup. For some reason the recipe doesn't call for salt or pepper. But, I felt it definitely needed salt. So season with salt and/or pepper to your liking. I garnished my bowl with some basil.

(Click here for printable recipe)