I want to kick off 2025 with this simple tomato soup. I have made a variety of freehand tomato soups now and again over the years – this one is perhaps a bit more elaborate than usual. It goes well with sandwiches, latkes, or anything particularly “carby.”
While we do not necessarily think of tomato soup as an explicitly Jewish dish, many Jewish cookbooks have included it over the years. Fania Lewando included more than one tomato soup in her vegetarian Yiddish-language cookbook nearly a century ago in Lithuania, as did many cookbooks for immigrant Jews in the early 20th century in the United States. Many South African Jewish community cookbooks have tomato soup recipes as well – and I do wonder if my freehand soups are subconsciously inspired by those of my South African grandparents (may they rest in peace). These soups are all enabled by canned tomatoes – a miracle of modernist food that allows us to enjoy the summer wonder of tomatoes in the dead of winter, or far from anything green. (Incidentally, the best tomato soup I ever had was at a restaurant inside a tomato greenhouse in Iceland.)
I add the luxuries of some fresh tomatoes and basil to my soup, but these can easily be swapped for dried basil and more canned tomatoes. This is a soup that does well as leftovers, and feel free to make in large quantities and freeze for later.
Tomato Soup
Makes 4 big or 8 small servings
3 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil
1 small Vidalia onion, roughly chopped
1 large carrot, roughly chopped
4 stalks celery, roughly chopped
5 cloves garlic, smashed
2 15 oz/425g cans diced tomatoes, unsalted
A handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped, or 2 teaspoons dried basil
1 tablespoon bouillon base or two bouillon cubes, crushed
4 cups water
3 small Roma tomatoes, roughly chopped (see note above)
1 teaspoon table salt
¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- In a medium-sized Dutch oven on medium-high heat, melt the butter or heat the oil.
- Add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic, and sweat for a few minutes, stirring regularly, until the onion is noticeably softer and smaller.
- Add the diced tomatoes and mix in.
- When the tomatoes start bubbling, add the basil and bouillon and mix in thoroughly.
- Add the water and bring to a boil.
- When boiling, add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper.
- Simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the peel is coming off the tomato pieces. Stir often.
- Turn off the heat.
- Blend the soup with a stick blender or in batches in a food processor.
- Serve hot. The soup keeps for up to six days in the refrigerator or four months in the freezer.
Thanks to David Ouziel, Thomas Hamed, Dan Reed, Maryam Sabbaghi, and Douglas Graebner for participating in User Acceptance Testing for this recipe.
