Domesticity Nouveau

Friday, March 12, 2010

A Cozy Bowl of Tomato Soup

My beautiful sister recently gave me a hand-me-up of a treadmill and breadmachine.  I'll let you guess which I used first.

One of the meals I have missed most since going gluten-free has been toasted cheese and tomato soup.  Specifically, a toasted cheese sandwich made with Wonder Bread and Kraft Singles with a bowl of Campbell's tomato soup made with milk.  While I haven't found the perfect recipe for gluten-free bread yet, I have found a really good mix.  The Gluten Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix does a fine job of a near perfect replication of traditional white bread and whips up easily with or without a bread machine.

While getting a good bread mix was exciting, the real excitement came at a gluten-free replication of Campbell's tomato soup!  Some things in life have no substitution.... or so I thought!  After reading the ingredients in Campbell's tomato soup, it dawned on me that there really wasn't much to it.  The red and white can simply contains tomato paste, water, high fructose corn syrup, salt, WHEAT flour, and a few preservatives.  How much simpler could it be?  So off to the internet recipe sites I went in the hopes of not having to reinvent the recipe and borrowing from another person's labor or as I like to call it, working smarter, not harder.  Wellllll, there were several gluten free tomato soup recipes, but they were all fancy with diced tomatoes and garlic and creme fraiche and basil and onions and, and, and nothing with the simplicity of the red and white can.  I did manage to walk away with one simple recipe that I could use as a springboard to create the recipe I now give you.... drum roll please.... Gluten-Free, High Fructose Corn Syrup-Free, Low Sodium, Mock Campbell's Tomato Soup!  And yes, the title is longer than the ingredient list.

Gluten-Free, High Fructose Corn Syrup-Free, Low Sodium, Mock Campbell's Tomato Soup

1 6oz can tomato paste (I adore Muir Glen)
1 tsp sea salt or kosher salt (Diamond Kosher salt is by far the best)
0-1 Tbsp sugar or honey or agave nectar or fairy dust or sweetener of choice
2-3 cups liquid (I use 1.5 cups of water & 1.5 cups of milk)

Mix everything together in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering.  Best served with toasted cheese sandwiches and dill pickles.

I like to use an immersion blender so I can be really lazy and not have to whisk or stir as much.  Different cans of tomato paste have varying degrees of  sweetness to them, so you may or may not have to use a sweetener to get that truly Campbell's taste.  Maybe you are such a sweet person that all you will have to do is dip your finger in and the perfect amount of sweet will be delivered.  If your mom made it with water, then just use water.  I ran out of milk the other night, but had some heavy whipping cream, so I used 2.25 cups water + .75 cups cream and it was delicious.   You get the idea and know how you like your comfort food!