5-Minute (Cream of) Tomato Soup

The original of this recipe comes from Patricia Wells' At Home in Provence, an outstanding cookbook and highly recommended for anyone who has ever had a love affair with parmesan cheese.  But she's a real chef, and her recipes call for things like fresh tomatoes, peeled and seeded; whole cloves of garlic, lovingly minced by hand.  Yeah, right.  I turned this into a 5- minute version, and EVERYONE HAD SECONDS!!!  AND THERE WAS NO SCREAMING!!  AND THERE WAS JOY!!!  At my house, that's a miracle on par with the parting of the Red Sea.

Ingredients:

2 whole cloves

1 onion, halved (can even leave the peel on.  Not the part with the dirt, though.)

2-16 oz cans of tomatoes

1 tsp garlic powder

salt to taste

1 stalk celery, minced (OPTIONAL!!)

1 TBS olive oil

2 cups water, chicken stock, OR vegetable stock (If you use plain water, but want to intensify the flavor, use chicken or vegetable bouillon cubes in place of the salt.)

dried thyme

dried basil

2 bay leaves

Directions:

Cut onion in half; poke the sharp point of a clove into each half of the onion, and then put the onions in a pot.  Put everything else in the pot.  Simmer till you feel like eating.  

REMOVE BEFORE EATING:  Onion halves (with cloves), bay leaves.

The original recipe calls for putting the soup through a food mill to make it smooth and creamy.  I have a hand-held blender, so it's easy for me to do the same thing right in the pot.  Don't have a blender or don't feel like the extra work?  Just use crushed tomatoes.

TO ADD AT THE TABLE:

This soup is outstanding 'as is.'  It is also outstanding if you add a bit of cream straight into your bowl at the table (that makes it Cream of Tomato soup).  It is also outstanding if you add a bit of olive oil straight into your bowl at the table.  It is excellent served either hot OR cold.

I guess you'll just have to have about 6 bowls to see which way you like it best!!

Scream rating:  -10 (out of 5 -- because EVERYONE HAD SECONDS!!! THERE WEREN'T ANY LEFTOVERS!!!!)