Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Tomato Vodka Soup

This was really easy and very delicious. Brandon and i have been on a soup kick for a while now and so i thought i would give this a try. Never made a tomato soup before, but this was really good, so i will definitely make it again. Don't be fooled by the vodka in the name. You use vodka, but all the alcohol burns off, so you are just left with some great flavors.

There are a couple of ways you can serve this, some being healthier than the others. Serve it straight up all by it's self. Serve with a nice mixed green salad. Serve with some nice crusty bread or garlic bread. Or if you want to go all out, serve with a bacon grilled cheese sandwich. Let me just tell you, all of those flavors are completely awesome...proceed with caution.

1 32oz vegetable or chicken stock/broth
1/2 cup of sun dried tomatoes (not in oil)
Olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, grated or finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme or 1 tbsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper for seasoning
21 seasoning or no-salt Mrs. Dash for seasoning
1 cup vodka
1 28oz can of Italian styled crushed tomatoes
A few fresh basil leaves (chopped, but do not chop until you are ready to use, they will go brown if you chop too soon)
1 cup heavy cream

In a small sauce pan, bring 1 1/2 cups stock/broth and sun dried tomatoes to a low boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, drizzle in olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, garlic, bay leaf and season with salt, pepper and seasoning blend. Cook until onions begin to caramelize. Stirring occasionally. Add vodka and cook for about 5 minutes. Stirring occasionally. Add crushed tomatoes and continue to cook until thicken (about 15 minutes). Stirring occasionally. Add remaining 2 1/2 cups broth/stock the sun dried tomatoes and their liquid and the basil. Remove bay leaf. Puree with a immersion (hand) blender. Return to a slow simmer and stir in cream.

Serve in a soup bowl and garnish with chopped basil. Serve and ENJOY!

Wine pairing....sauvignon blanc.

I'm back!

Wow, it sure has been a long time. Many events have taken course since my last blog insert. Let's see...our daughter graduated from High School. We packed her up and dropped her off a college. Where did she go you ask. Too far away, is what i say. Taylor is off at Oregon State University. She is off starting many new adventures and i am adjusting quite well (finally). Oh, one more really big life changing event. We started our own new business. A wine bar and wine retail shop. So, you can see, we have been quite busy. I am looking forward to blogging again and sharing all of my recipes and adventures with you. Also, please remember, this is an open blog, so please be sure to share all your great recipes and adventures with me. I would love to post them all.

Cheers to many more delicious recipes, adventures and simply sharing all the good stuff in life.