Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

This turned out to be a bigger ordeal than I bargained for.  But I think the results will be appreciated – by me – in the weeks to come, since I ended up with enough tomato soup to last me 12 to 15 meals. 

If I keep up with this blog for any real length of time, and if you read many of it’s entries, you will find me repeating this bit of wisdom gleaned from years living alone with chronic pain: Cook large batches of food that can be frozen in one or two serving size containers, and you will thank yourself on those days when you don’t have the energy to fix a meal. 

Many weekends, I devote a big chunk of at least one afternoon to fixing an enormous quantity of some dish that is freezable.  In doing so, I concentrate all the pain and torment of cooking into a few hours, and disperse the food and enjoyment over several weeks. 

I found a recipe similar to this in a cookbook given to me by a friend.  I made a double batch and a few changes.  Because the second-to-final stage involves whisking cold milk into the soup, I was able to quickly transfer the end product into freezer bags and throw it in the freezer without waiting for it to cool.

You'll notice that my measurements are pretty arbitrary, I tend to tweak recipes as I go based on how much of each ingredient I have on hand and how much energy I feel I have for all the preparations.  For example, I put quite a bit more basil in this than the original recipe called for, mainly because I had a pretty hefty bunch of basil to use up and didn't want to waste it.  

Here’s the recipe:

2 – 5 tbsp olive oil.

1 – 3 onions.

2 – 5 garlic cloves minced. 

8 -12 large, ripe tomatoes; peeled and diced.

2 – 3 cups chicken broth.

4 -6 tbsp fresh basil leaves.

6 cups milk (I like to use whole or 2%, fat makes food taste good).

6 oz can tomato paste.

Salt and black pepper to taste. 

Heat oil in large sauce pan / stew pot.  Cook onions until softened.  Add tomatoes, broth, garlic, and about ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp black pepper.  Bring to boil, then lower to simmer for about 10 minutes, or until everything is tender. 

Puree in small batches with basil leaves.  (You could also save the basil leaves till the very end, adding them [finely chopped] as you’re warming up the soup to serve it.)

When entire batch is pureed, transfer back to pot, adding tomato paste and milk.  Now would be a good time to taste it and see if it needs more salt and pepper. 

Now you can either transfer the soup to containers for freezing, or warm it up to serve it.  When warming it up, be sure to avoid boiling it.  Because it contains milk, it will get that gross film on top if it gets too hot.

I froze this soup in zip-lock bags, flat on the freezer floor.  Once the bags freeze, you can move them around in the freezer.  Because they end up thin and rectangular, it can be really convenient. 

I also made sure to label the bags.  In addition to the name of the dish, I like to write instructions to myself on how to serve the food.  In this case, the soup is ready to eat.  I just need to thaw and heat it.  Sometimes I’ll write something like, “Serve with pasta,” or “add carrots.”  

If I'd thought ahead, I would have labeled the bags before I filled them.  My handwriting was much messier than usual because I wrote on a bag filled with liquid!