Spicy tomato basil soup

I’ve been a little under the weather this week, which always means it’s time to dust off the trusty soup recipes. I found a great recipe last year for tomato basil soup that I use and tweak depending on what ingredients I have on hand.

• 2 28 oz. cans of crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups of chicken broth
• 2 TBSP sugar, more to taste
• 1 cup of cream or half-and-half
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 20 leaves of basil (or dried basil to taste)
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper, more to taste

I puree the tomatoes beforehand to make a smoother soup but you don’t have to if you prefer your soup a bit chunkier (or don’t want to bust out the blender). Add the crushed tomatoes and broth to a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the sugar and stir to melt. Reduce to a simmer. Add the cream, butter and basil and stir to combine. The soup is ready when the butter is melted!

Some notes:

• I’ve used diced tomatoes as well as whole tomatoes in place of the crushed tomatoes and haven’t been able to achieve the same texture that crushed tomatoes give. I’m not sure what’s so different about the crushed tomatoes but I think they make the best soup. If you go the whole tomato route, a good starting point is a peeled and seeded tomato. That was the problem with the diced tomatoes: all the seeds.
• You could probably use milk in place of the cream or half-and-half, but the soup will be thinner. Don’t look at the calorie count of cream – it’ll make you faint! Or go look but you might never eat it again! You’ve been warned.
• I prefer my soup spicy so I use a healthy sprinkling of cayenne pepper. This may be too much for some people but if you like spicy food then I completely recommend it.