Impromptu Soup

I was really just wanting to take a break from Bloustein (which is a finger-numbing icebox in the spring/summer, and a stuffy hot waiting room during the cold months—HVAC FAIL), but what ended up happening took much longer than I had expected, and much tastier than I had anticipated:

Cream of Tomato Basil Soup with Rice

I’ll take credit for this recipe, as I failed to really follow any one :) but I did follow the guidelines from a RecipeZaar recipe. Here’s the recipe as I ended up making it.

• 2 cups - cooked rice*

• 2 tsp - oil
• 2 stems - leeks; washed thoroughly, sliced in half long ways, 1/4" up to a bit of the green
• 3 large cloves - garlic; minced

• 22 oz - vegetable broth*
• 1 1/2 - large tomatoes*
• 1 tsp - fresh basil; chiffonade

• I cup - light cream*
• 1 tsp - butter*

*Rice – long grain is better, wild rice would be even better

*Broth & Tomatoes – If you use plum tomatoes, I have a feeling you’ll get a sweeter, heartier soup. They are juicer and thicker, but then you may need more like 30-32oz of broth

*Cream and Butter - Heavy cream, no butter may thicken it up more…

*Between the regular tomatoes, and light cream, I actually liked the consistency—it was creamy, but not too thick. If you choose to use regular short grain rice, this will thicken it up. If you use wild rice, I would go a little thicker on the soup (ie, heavy cream, plum tomatoes)

Sauteé the garlic in (~2tsp) vegetable or olive oil (not virgin or extra virgin though) and add leeks. Cook until leeks get a little transparent and a touch browned.

Add tomatoes, broth and basil. Bring to a simmer for about 20 minutes.

With 5 minutes left, heat up the cream on the stove over low heat.

Puree the soup in portions in a blender (or however you’d like to mix things up).

Bring back to stove and slowly add heated cream over low/med heat (not too high! Because the soup is now thicker, heat will have a little more difficult time coming though. It’ll make your soup pop a bit!), stirring often.

When soup is all incorporated, pour over rice (as much or little as you want; ~3/4 c. per serving works for me).

Garnish with basil leaf…bon appetito! :]