Tomato Rosemary Lemon Soup

The other day, my wife suggested Tomato Soup might be good. It was a cold day and soup sounded good to me too. So, I did some recipe searching and found a recipe from Giada DeLaurentis from the Food Network. Of course, I had to change a few things. Mostly I didn't have all the ingredients for her recipe. In particular, her recipe has you sauteing a couple of chopped carrots. Also you add a can of cannelloni beans which are, I think, small white beans. If those were in this soup, and got blended with the other parts, it would change the taste and texture quite a bit.

• 1/2 large onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp butter

Saute until translucent in a non-small cook pan. (Not a skillet.)

• 2 14-ounce cans diced tomatoes (stewed or simply canned tomatoes would work or you could use a large can of crushed tomatoes)
• 1 whole bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (it might taste ok with less of this)
• 3 cups chicken broth (this shouldn't have too much salt)
• 1 tsp fresh Rosemary (You are going to need another 1/2 tsp down the page a bit so prepare it all at this point. Just keep the leaves. Discard the stems. Chop finely. I also put some olive oil on the rosemary when it was still on the stem and set fire to part of it. It smells wonderful and adds a bit of smokey flavor)
• 1/2 tsp sugar

Add the above and bring to a boil over med-high head. Reduce heat and simmer, covered 20 min. Remove from heat. Run through blender a ladle/cup at a time.You will need another pan or heatproof mixing bowl.

• Salt
• Pepper

Season to taste. Warm back up in the same pan after you wash it out.

• 1/2 cup whipped cream cheese
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• Zest of one lemon
• 1/2 tsp fresh Rosemary (prepared as described above)

Stir together vigorously. Try to get rid of lumps.

Serve hot soup with a generous dollop of the cream mixture. Diners should stir it up before eating

Jan 2011