Yes, I am still on a soup kick – and I don’t intend to stop any time soon.  And what soup repertoire would be complete without a good wholesome tomato soup?  Here are my two favorite recipes for tomato soup: a summer recipe that calls for fresh tomatoes, and a winter one that uses canned tomatoes.

There are few things more comforting than a big bowl of tomato soup served along side a grilled cheese.  The trouble is, tomatoes are only good once a year, in the summer, when you don’t necessarily crave hot soup.  How do you make great tomato soup in the middle of winter when the tomatoes are pink and tasteless?  I found the solution in one of my favorite cookbooks, The New Best Recipe, a compilation of Cook’s Illustrated’s recipes.  If you are not familiar with Cook’s Illustrated, it is a food magazine based on thorough recipe testing.  Extensive time spent in the kitchen tweaking all kinds of basic recipes from tomato soup to creme brulee, I always consult this cookbook when starting to develop a new dish.  My favorite aspect of the book is that each recipe is accompanied by a page long explanation of their trials and tribulations during the testing process.  Describing what worked and what did not, the explanations give further insight into not only the particular recipe, but the food science behind it as well.

Ok, back to tomato soup…

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My love of baking started  with cakes (well in truth it started with an Easy Bake Oven, but that is a whole other post).  I first experimented with cakes in high school – mix from a box, frosting from a can. One night I remember toiling for hours creating a “Bon Vonage” cake for French class. Decorated with fresh carnations, I was very impressed with how “professional” my masterpiece looked. On display on the kitchen table, the cake unfortunately became a mid-night snack for our cunning dog, Napoleon, instead of my intended classmates. After a few tears and some encouragement from my mother, (and of course a trip to the grocery store for another box and another can) I headed back into the kitchen for round two. (more…)