"Sherried" Tomato Soup

That moment when you forget to press "publish" instead of "save." Whoops.

For my last girls night in with Jen in Winona, it was rainy, cold, and gross. To combat this, Jen and I decided to make a soup we had the opportunity to try at a massive soup tasting earlier in the year- Sherried Tomato Soup!

Now, I love tomatoes, I love soup, and I love things cooked with wine. This combines all three into one of the most amazing soups I've ever had in my life, and conveniently slingshotted it to the top of my "favorite foods" list.  What I love about it is that the recipe is easy, makes plenty of servings (great to freeze!) and tastes great with a grilled cheese. I also like that thanks to the vegetables, it has a more varied texture than your run-of-the-mill tomato soup, making it more enjoyable to eat.

For this recipe, you will need:

• 1 Medium Onion
• 6 Tablespoons of Butter
• 2 14.5 oz cans of Diced Tomatoes
• 46 oz of Tomato Juice
• 3-6 Tablespoons of Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon of Chicken Bouillon
• Ground Pepper
• 1 Cup Cooking Sherry, OR Regular Red Wine
• 1 1/2 Cups Heavy Cream or Half and Half
• 1/4 Cup Fresh Basil, chopped

1. Melt 6 Tablespoons of Butter in a large stock pot on medium heat. While you're waiting for that, it's a perfect time to...
2. Dice the onion, and add to melted butter. Cook until translucent.  Also, make sure to dice them smaller than you would normally, almost a mince, because no one wants a huge piece of onion in their spoon of soup.  
3. Once the onions have been effectively sautéed, add both cans of diced tomatoes. Be careful to add it slowly, because it will splash and hot butter hurts. I may or may not be speaking from experience. 

   

   After adding the diced tomatoes and onions!

4. Stir to combine, and then add the Tomato Juice. See above. 
5. Add 3 to 6 Tablespoons of sugar, based on taste preference and the acidity of your tomatoes. I used 6 tablespoons since I was using a bottle of red wine that had only been open for one day. 
6. Stir to combine, add black pepper to taste, and then let cook for about five minutes. 
7. Add in one cup of red wine. I am not a fan of cooking sherry, so every time I've made this I've substituted red wine. 
• Most recently, I used "Rich Red Blend" from Barefoot (it was on sale!). Because you're using so much, definitely leave the bottle out open on the counter for at least one (if not- and preferably- longer) night. 
• If using wine, add in about 1/4 cup of water per cup of wine, and 1 extra Tablespoon of sugar



After adding wine (I'm bad at remembering to stir)

• It WILL smell strongly, and taste strongly if you don't cook it out as long as possible. 
8. Let cook for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally. 
9. Slowly integrate the cream, stirring as you go. I used half and half, because I didn't want it to be quite so thick. 

The finished product!

10. Reduce heat almost all the way, and let simmer for an    additional ten minutes. Stir in fresh basil as a garnish. While the soup is simmering, it's the perfect time to make a good old-fashioned grilled cheese, or toast up some bread. 

OPTIONAL: When Jen and I made this, we used her immersion blender to mix our soup one final time so we wouldn't have quite so many chunks. The soup is great without it, but depending on your preferences, this could be preferable. 

Jen's snazzy blender

This soup is perfect for a cold spring or fall day. It's my new favorite tomato soup, toppling the long-reigning champ, Panera's creamy tomato soup. The large quantity means it's perfect to feed it a family, and perfect to save for later- I have four two-serving freezer bags waiting for me for my work lunches after I start next week. 

If you're concerned about the wine, feel free to add half of the amount listed, or cook it out for longer. Also, feel free to add whatever spices you want- on my most recent attempt, I got a little crazy and added basil, chives, and some oregano, along with double the pepper I normally do, and it was wonderful! 

Tomorrow I'll be posting on how to make my Dad's famous Chicken shish kabobs, which he makes for almost every summer barbecue and family gathering we go to, and are always a hit. If you have any suggestions for a recipe or technique I should try, please email me at dontexpectmiraclesblog@gmail.com or comment below! Thank you for reading!