Summer's Tomato Soup

Seasonal clothing is commonplace, think summer sandals vs winter boots. But a homemade tomato soup especially for summer? Yes! Summer's Tomato Soup is simple, just a few pantry ingredients plus fresh tomatoes. It's made with summer's ripest and reddest tomatoes so the soup's color is extra beautiful. And the taste? Complex. Unexpected. Summery.
Seasonal cooks, you know you'll love this herb-tinged tomato soup. If you're curious? Yes, there's a cold-weather homemade tomato soup too, it's Winter Tomato Soup!

Summer's Tomato Soup, another fresh & seasonal summer soup ♥ KitchenParade.com, beautiful color, made with summer's best fresh tomatoes. Looks simple, tastes complex.

Real Food, Fresh & Seasonal. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. A Real Summer Treat. Vegetarian. Weight Watchers Friendly. Low Carb. Rave Reviews. What're you waiting for?!

COMPLIMENTS!
  • "... we couldn't believe how something so simple was so delicious." ~ Anonymous
  • "This is fantastic!" ~ Jessica
BEST RECIPES!

Sliced tomatoes with garlic chive flowers

The Fleeting Days of Summer Tomatoes

Summer tomatoes and college kids are a lot alike.

Oh! The anticipation of their arrival! And while they’re around, it’s hard to get enough. And when they’re gone – far too soon – you miss ‘em.

Here in eastern Missouri, once Arkansas’ picked-three-days-before-yesterday tomato invaders show up, the picked-this-mornin’ local tomatoes aren’t far behind.

For a couple of weeks, it’s red heaven on a plate. Sliced and salted. Sliced and sugared. Sliced and slivered with basil and slippery with mozzarella.

And then into September, it's tomatoes grilled, broiled, roasted, sandwiched and then finally, souped.

SUMMER’s TOMATO SOUP is a light, herb-tinged soup that makes for a perfect starter or a light supper. It's as different from Winter Tomato Soup as, well, summer and winter, sun and snow, steamy August and frosty January.

RESOURCES

Summer's Tomato Soup ♥ KitchenParade.com, simple, light homemade tomato soup, made with fresh tomatoes. Beautiful color. Looks simple, tastes complex.



SUMMER’s TOMATO SOUP

Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time-to-table: 15 minutes
Makes 5 cups
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1/2 cup finely diced onion
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1 pound perfectly ripe tomatoes, diced
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups skim milk (see ALANNA’s TIPS)
  • Bits of fresh basil or thyme

Heat a large pot on medium high and melt the butter. Add the onion, stir well to coat with fat and let cook for 2 – 3 minutes until soft but before turning golden. Add the flour, let cook for about 1 minute, stirring continuously. Stir in the tomatoes, water and sugar, let cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. (If you like, prepare to this point and refrigerate or freeze. Reheat before proceeding.)

Stir in the salt and soda. Don’t worry when the mixture foams up, it's supposed to! Add the milk and heat through but do not allow to boil and stir often to avoid scorching on the bottom of the pot. Serve immediately topped with bits of basil or thyme.

ALANNA's TIPS For a slightly less homespun company-for-supper version, use whole milk for richness and purée the soup in a blender for smoothness. For something in-between, make the soup with skim milk, then stir in a splash of half 'n' half. Some times, I add a dollop of basil pesto to each bowl. Wash, dry and then freeze tomatoes (as is, no canning, no chopping) at their summer peak for soups and stews in winter. Just before using, if you like, hold a still-frozen tomato under warm tap water to easily remove the skin. More details? See How to Freeze Tomatoes.
NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Cup with Skim/Whole Milk: 85/110 Calories; 2/5g Tot Fat; 2/3g Sat Fat; 7/15mg Cholesterol; 149/137mg Sodium; 12/11g Carb; 1g Fiber; 9g Sugar; 5/4g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 1/2 & PointsPlus 2/3 & SmartPoints 4/5 & Freestyle 3/4 & myWW green 3/4 & blue 3/4 & purple 3/4
Adapted from a recipe from my dear Auntie Gloria, her story is here in the family recipe for Brown Sugar Lemon Curd.
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Grilled Steak with Tomato-Avocado Salad in a Warm Poblano-Bacon Vinaigrette ♥ KitchenParade.com, grilled steak atop a wet and messy salad of tomatoes, avocado and lettuce, slightly wilted in an onion-bacon-poblano vinaigrette.

A BATTLE Sandwich, it's a BLT on Steroids ♥ KitchenParade.com. Fresh & Casual. A Summer Family Tradition. Easy to Make, Worth a Celebration.

Summer Soups Are Special!

~ Favorite Summer Soup Recipes ~
~ more soup recipes ~
Finnish Summer Soup aka Kesäkeitto ♥ KitchenParade.com, perfect new summer vegetables suspended in a milky broth, make it all summer long.

Sweet-Corn Soup with Shrimp ♥ KitchenParade.com, familiar ingredients combined into something unusual and surprising. Serve chilled in summer, warm in the spring. Fresh & Seasonal. High Protein.

Summer's Best Corn Chowder, a classic summer soup ♥ AVeggieVenture.com, packed with our favorite fresh and seasonal summer vegetables. Great for Meal Prep.

Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. Anonymous8/25/2008

    My husband made this last night for dinner, we couldn't believe how something so simple was so delicious. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is fantastic! I used corn starch instead of flour so it's gluten free. Stashed some tomatoes in the freezer for this winter!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jessica ~ Yay, another fan! And I’m so glad to know about the GF option, thanks for letting me know!

    ReplyDelete
  4. kathleen8/10/2021

    Just to let you know...fresh tomato soup for dinner tonight....thanks for my favorite recipe...kathleen

    ReplyDelete

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. But I also love hearing your reactions, your curiosity, even your concerns! When you've made a recipe, I especially love to know how it turned out, what variations you made, what you'll do differently the next time. ~ Alanna