We all have those moments I’m assuming when it’s time to eat, we’ve had a crazy busy day and our resources are just drained. That was me the other day and seems was true of some of my tweeps on Twitter so several decided it was time for pizza. I love great pizza but was a little stuck because I just don’t love most of the stuff that is available for home delivery.
I decided I would just have to bite the bullet and make something and my favorite go to dish on night like this is a wonderful tomato, butter and onion spaghetti sauce. Except I had just made that not too many days ago so had one of those light bulb moments when I thought…soup, I’ll just use the canned tomatoes for cream of tomato soup. I had just roasted an entire bag of peeled garlic; buying that bag was an experiment that did not work. I simply do not use enough garlic to go through one of those bags before the cloves start to show signs of diminishing value so to conserve the value; I roasted all of them and will freeze them for use in soups and other dishes so the timing was perfect.
The last time I made some quick tomato soup, I tried roasting the tomatoes beforehand. I can’t say that the effort or mess led to such a great result that it was something I felt repeating…particularly since I was in the mood for quick and easy so that’s what I made it. A quick saute of some onions, the addition of the tomatoes, garlic and some milk and I had what I didn’t even know I had been craving…a warm satisfying meal that took me all of 20 minutes to complete, including the homemade croutons!
I love my mixer and my food processor but I think if given a choice of only one instrument I might have to pick my immersion blender; at times like this it’s what made this dish so easy without the need for additional cleanup of a larger appliance. Yay! I don’t blend the soup until it’s entirely smooth; preferring to leave a bit of texture; I like that mouth feel.
Garlic Tomato Soup with Garlic Croutons
Ingredients
Soup
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp butter blended with 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 (14-ounce) can chopped tomatoes
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 6 cloves of roasted garlic
- 1 onion diced
- 2 Tbsp flour
- 1 cup milk or half and half or a combination of the two
Croutons
- 2-3 slices bread
- 2 Tbsp butter
- Garlic powder
- Salt and pepper
Directions
- In a medium large pot, heat butter and olive oil over medium-low heat.
- Add the onion and garlic and saute for 10 minutes.
- Add flour and cook for an additional minute.
- Add the tomatoes and blend with the flour and onion mixture and cook until it thickens.
- Add milk or half and half. Puree with an immersion blender until smooth.
- Cook on low heat while you make the croutons.
Croutons
- Melt butter in large skillet and add garlic seasoning, salt and pepper and mix well. Add bread and mix thoroughly trying to coat all bread with some of the butter. Cook over medium-low heat, turning often until brown and crispy.
Garnish soup with garlic croutons
NOTE: I was lucky enough to have a bunch of roasted garlic on hand but if you don’t, substitute a couple of garlic cloves and saute them with the onions. This website has instructions for how to roast garlic in whole bunches. I had a huge bag of skinned cloves. I simply mixed them with olive oil and salt, covered them (took two cereal size bowls for as many as I had) and put them in my toaster over at 300 degrees. Took about 90 minutes; they should be a golden brown color and the clove should be easy to mash
Serves 4
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
yes, great minds think alike – LOL! i do love the addition of roasted garlic and a bit of onion – a snap to make. who knew? and for the record, i haven’t purchased a can of tomato soup in so many years, i’ve lost count!
omg this looks AMAZING!! Such a beautiful soup, and I know just the bread to make those garlic croutons GF!
And beyond easy; I will never buy a can of tomato soup again. Promise.
This looks delicious. I had no idea you can freeze garlic? How do you wrap it for freezing? It sounds wonderful!
I freeze it after I roast it…assuming I’ll be adding it as a flavoring, I don’t worry too much about the texture degrading. Truth is…I typically use it up before I end up having to freeze much. I love roasted garlic in so many things!
Dahlink….this looks abfab!!!! You’ve had some great posts of late. The link to roast the garlic is very helpful as was your tip!!!! Hope all is well!!!!
Thank you ma’am!
This is perfect for those cold evenings that are coming very soon! I love tomato soup and it is huge comfort food. Mr. B will be able to whip this one up when I am recuperating from surgery in a few weeks!
Another soul warming recipe that I’ll cherish; just like your Cilantro Rice.
Ah…that rice. And I made a lemon risotto the other night that is moving up the charts with a bullet. Add a pint of roasted cherry tomatoes after the rice is finished cooking. Seriously had to sequester from myself to keep from finishing off every little itty bitty bite before company arrived. And I am not kidding.
I wish i had someone to split the big jar of cloves with. You should move here, so we can share garlic, yes? Or you could just send me some roasted garlic. I bet it makes this soup so much better than traditionally tomato soup. Jealous.
As soon as it gets a bit cooler; I will do just that. Promise. I mean I have 100 cloves of roasted garlic. I could share a couple or 50 with you!
I love it, Barb! Some days, nothing is better than “throwing stuff into a pot” and using the immersion blender (which I cannot live without) to make a warm bowl of soup.
[K]
I know, right? I mean, I may love to cook..but not every night…a girl needs a break sometimes!
Wow now this is indeed my kind of soup! Fast, quick, warming and with garlic croutons. This is perfect for a midweek meal or a weekend meal when i’m lazy. Lovely, Barbara!
Thanks Jamie…I would have added some Parmesan on top too if there had been any in the fridge. Next time.