A while back I discovered a recipe for tomato basil soup, I can’t even remember where. It was supposed to be a copycat recipe for the one at La Madeline restaurant. Since I haven’t had the one there I don’t know how close it is, or even how much I’ve changed it since then, but it’s a soup I’ve made over and over again, loving it each time.
I’ve always used canned tomatoes for this soup, but now that tomatoes are coming in from my CSA I am going to give it a shot with fresh ‘maters soon. Mmmm. Tomatoes.
Anyway, it’s a really simple recipe, although for the first time I made vegetable stock to use with it. Using the roasted vegetable stock recipe from How to Cook Everything, I made a stock using carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, garlic, shiitake mushrooms, fresh parsley from the back deck, peppercorns and salt. It was a simple process, just took a while to make – mostly unattended.
To a quart of my fresh stock, I added three cans of diced tomatoes and simmered them together for twenty minutes or so. I let it cool a bit, then processed the heck of out of it in my food processor along with a handful of fresh basil. It went back into the pot with a stick of butter. Once that’s melted in, I added about 3/4 of a cup of half and half. (It’s better with heavy cream, but half and half is what I had on hand.) Heat through and you’re done!
I had some gruyere left hanging out in the fridge so I shredded it and toasted some home made bread for a little cheese toast. Ahhh. Heavenly.
kitchenkungfu.net 
I remember the days when cooking all day was rewarded at suppe rtime with the very best in taste of everything put in the pot. We had chickens and so broth, soups, casseroles, stewed dishes were very abundent. I’m going to get back to basics too- will try this recipe soon…\o/\o/