Nov 25 2008
How can I spruce up a simple can of tomato soup and make it gourmet?
squealy68 asked:
… so my husband will think I slaved over it. I have very limited time to whip something up, but I do have a pantry FULL of food and spices. Suggestions??
… so my husband will think I slaved over it. I have very limited time to whip something up, but I do have a pantry FULL of food and spices. Suggestions??
13 Responses to “How can I spruce up a simple can of tomato soup and make it gourmet?”
OREGANO,BASIL AND CHEESE CHUNKS
You can add rice to it and cook the rice in there with chopped onion and or garlic.
You can cook meat into the soup. Why am I helping you lie to your husband…Bad karma~ here is what I really think!
You could tell him the truth and tell him its a frigging can of soup…He is gonna know anyway! Canned tomato soup has no possibility of being passed off as homemade! Honesty is your best policy.
yeah, if you have any antipasti, like sundried tomato, olives, capers, artichoke- go ahead and chop that and put it in. Swirl some sour cream on the top, grated pepper and drizzle of olive oil, followed by some shaved parmesan cheese and some lovely toasted garlic bread. He’ll never know ; )
If you have a fresh tomato and onion….dice them up… saute them in a teaspoon of butter with freshly ground pepper. Stir in the canned tomato soup. (If you have fresh basil, put that in.. if not.. sprinkle dried parsley on top) If you have hard cheese (Parmesan, asiago, etc. - shave it and place it on top of the soup - not mixed in).
actually, if you have a jar of marinara and about a half an hour, try this recipe. Its REALLY good I made it for my husband’s lunch this afternoon
Quick and Spicy Tomato Soup
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (26-ounce) jar marinara sauce (recommended: San Marzano brand)
2 (14-ounce) cans chicken broth
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup pastina pasta (or any small pasta)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Warm the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, onion, and garlic and saute until soft, about 2 minutes. Add the jar of marinara sauce, chicken broth, cannellini beans, red pepper flakes, pasta, salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve.
Add a few leaves of fresh basil (torn) some sun dried or stewed tomatoes and a bit of cream or milk.
season with a bit of black pepper.
Add some fresh tomatoes - chopp them tiny and put them in. Some fresh herbs will help too - whatever suits your taste. Just about anything goes with tomato.
Then heat some sour cream with some cheese (or melt some cream cheese) and swirl that into the soup. Garnish with a bay leaf.
Add a touch of “gourmet” to a classic grilled sandwich if you can. If you have any artisan bread or sourdough, place some thin layers of meat and gourmet cheese (or even swiss or parmesan or a mix) between the slices of bread and grill, if possible do this in a panini maker or foreman grill to get nice ‘grill strips’ on the sandwich.
Sort of a gourmet take on traditional grilled cheese and tomato soup.
INGREDIENTS
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed tomato soup, undiluted
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, cubed
In a saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender. Stir in tomatoes, soup, milk, sugar, basil, paprika and garlic powder. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Stir in cream cheese until melted. Serve immediately.
OR
Ingredients:
1 can (10 3/4 oz.)Tomato Soup (Regular or 25% Less Sodium)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup light cream OR cup half-and-half
1 tbsp. lemon juice
6 tbsp. prepared pesto sauce
6 slices French or Italian bread, 1/2″ thick, toasted
Directions:
Stir the soup, milk, cream and lemon juice in a 2-qt. saucepan. Heat the soup over medium heat until hot.
Spread 1 tbsp. of the pesto on each toast slice.
Divide the soup among 6 serving bowls. Float a pesto crouton on each bowl of soup.
OR
Florentine Soup:
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. butter OR margarine
1 tbsp. finely chopped green onion
1/4 tsp. dried thyme leaves, crushed
1 cup packed shredded spinach leaves
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Tomato Soup
1 soup can milk
Directions:
HEAT butter in saucepan. Add onions and thyme and cook until onion is tender.
STIR in spinach and cook until wilted. Add soup and milk and heat through.
Seafood Chowder
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. olive oil OR vegetable oil
1 medium bulb fennel, trimmed, halved and thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 tsp. dried thyme leaves, crushed
5 cups water
1 3/4 cups Vegetable Broth (regular or Certified Organic)
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Tomato Soup
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen whole baby carrots, thawed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 lb. fresh or thawed frozen firm white fish fillet (cod, haddock or halibut), cut into 2″ pieces
1/2 lb. fresh large shrimp, shelled and deveined
3/4 lb. mussel (about 12), well scrubbed
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
HEAT oil in saucepot over medium heat. Add fennel, onion and thyme and cook until tender. Add water, broth, soup and carrots. Heat to a boil.
ADD fish. Cover and cook over medium heat 2 min. Add shrimp and mussels. Cover and simmer 3 min. or until fish flakes easily with fork, shrimp are pink and mussels open. Discard any mussels that do not open. Serve with black pepper.
fresh herbs or a chopped up tomoto always make it seem homeade. Open a can of diced or stewed tomatos and add those. Or add a little chicken broth. Make some homeade croutons - make them really big like you would get with french onion soup and float it on top.
get yourself a tomato and heavy cream,dried basil leaves. take the canned soup and 1/2 that amount of the cream (also reserve a tsp of cream for the end) and combine in a pot and heat til boil…turn off heat. while doing that cut the outside flesh off the tomato… leave the insides aside. dice the flesh of the tomato and mix it in to the soup…soups ready to ladle
into the serving bowl….now sprinkle the top with a tiny bit of the dried basil….now to make it really pretty(restaurant quality)
drop a bit of the heavy cream dead centre of soup…get a tooth pic and from the centre make a design by pushing the tooth pic out in 5 different directions…if this fails just go in a circle going out. you now have a cream of tomato soup.
good luck…
cheese, onion, oyser crackers. put some basil on the side. hmmmmm
leave the soup as is…when he sits down to eat it…go and put on something sexy…or nothing at all…..chances are you could get him to not mention a thing about the soup
Saw this on Rachel Ray. Chop up some onions, carrots, yellow crooked neck squash etc…and maybe even some garlic. Sautee the veggies then add the canned soup or even crush stewed tomatos. You could also add a little itallion seasoning. Top with white chedder pop corn or gold fish crackers.