French Tomato Soup

Prep Time: 15 mins | Cook Time: 55 mins | Course: Dinner | Servings: 6

Creamy tomato soup scented with onion, garlic and ground cloves. Inspired by Bistro Jeanty and Epicurious. This is a rich, phenomenal soup; although the original directions call for a puff pastry lid, I’ve included less fussy directions for topping with a toasted baguette crouton with truffled brie on top, also I added ground cloves. I cut the cream from 4 cups to 2 and you could easily use just 1 cup. I have a printed copy of the recipe from Sept. 2015, but couldn’t find the link to include here. 

½ cup butter

2 cups onions, sliced

6 cups tomatoes, sliced

7 garlic cloves

¼ cup tomato paste

1 bay leaf

½ Tbsp whole black peppercorns

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves or ½ tsp dried

1 cup water

2 cups heavy cream (or cut in half)

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp cloves, ground

½ tsp white pepper, ground

Baguette slices, toasted

Truffle brie or brie, slices

In a stock pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, garlic, tomato paste, bay leaf, peppercorns and water. Simmer for 30-40 minutes until tomatoes and onions are soft. Puree in a blender (including whole seasonings), working in batches as needed. Return to the pot; add the cream, salt, cloves and white pepper and keep warm till serving time. Ladle soup into bowls and top with the baguette crouton and a wedge of truffled brie.