I love tomato soup. Especially homemade tomato soup with a spicy datil pepper kick! We don’t get much winter weather here in Florida, but it does get cool enough to crave a piping hot bowl of creamy delicious roasted tomato soup with garlicy Datil Zest croutons.
I grew up on canned Campbell’s Tomato Soup made with milk. It was one of my favorite comfort foods as a kid. Whenever I was sick, or just wanted something soothing, nothing else would do. Definitely not chicken noodle. There’s nothing wrong with chicken noodle soup, but I never liked the stuff out of the can.
Mamma always served the tomato soup with saltine crackers. I remember they used to come in sheets of 4 crackers baked together in a large square. Guess that really dates me. Part of the fun of eating them was to break them apart into 4 equal pieces. Oh, what wonderful memories. Crispy, salty crackers and creamy tomato soup. Simple but satisfying and good. This recipe takes tomato soup to a whole new level. And no saltines here. Garlicky Datil Zest Croutons are definitely the way to go. They aren’t your average croutons, and are wonderful in other soups as well, or are the perfect topping for a delicious salad. You’ll never want to buy pre-packaged croutons again, These will spoil you, for sure.
Both of these recipes are super easy, and take less than an hour to make. While the soup is cooking, you can bake the croutons, and serve them crispy and piping hot out of the oven to top your tomato soup.
Canned tomatoes work well here, which is good, since it isn’t tomato season. I used Organic Fire Roasted Red Tomatoes to give the soup a much richer, more robust flavor, but you can use regular tomatoes if you wish. The fresh tomatoes in the grocery stores right now are either kind of pale and sickly looking or are the hydroponic ones that are beautiful to look at, but have absolutely no taste whatsoever. Be sure to buy good quality canned tomatoes, as the cheaper brands tend to be more acidic, and have less flavor. You’ll be happy you spent those few extra pennies.
Fun Facts:
The word soup is derived from the Sanscrit su po, meaning good nutrition.
The earliest archaeological evidence for the consumption of soup dates back to 6000 BC, and it was hippopotamus soup. Not something we would eat today.
January is National Soup Month.
The Campbell Company was the first to invent condensed soup. They introduced it to the world in 1897.
Groucho Marx explained the title of the Marx Brother’s movie “Duck Soup” like this: “Take two turkeys, one goose, four cabbages, but no duck, and mix them together. After one taste, you’ll duck soup the rest of your life.”
When asked why he painted his iconic soup cans, Andy Warhol said: “I used to have the same (Campbell’s soup) lunch every day for 20 years.” Obviously it worked for him. (If you ever get the chance to visit the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, you can see those gigantic Pop Art cans for yourself.) Soup as art! The man was a genius.
Snake Bite Datil Pepper Hot Sauce won a 1st Place International Flavor Award in 2018. Our original datil pepper hot sauce is in the medium range in terms of heat. You get the datil pepper flavor you crave, but are still able to taste your food through the heat. For an even hotter version, try Venom Datil Pepper Hot Sauce.
Tomato Nutrition Facts:
Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, an antioxidant that is good for the heart and effective against certain cancers.
Cooked tomatoes are actually better for you than raw ones, as more beneficial chemicals are released with the heat.
Tomatoes are also loaded with vitamins A and C, calcium, potassium, folate and vitamin K.
Tomatoes are heart healthy: A tomato has 0 grams of cholesterol and contains extremely small amounts of fat.
One medium sized tomato contains about 22 calories.
This is definitely not a “diet” recipe, due to the cream, but it’s wonderfully spicy, and one of my go-to recipes when there’s a chill in the air. Just don’t eat it every day. Once in a while, it’s ok to splurge a little. To cut the calories, you can leave out the cream, and the soup will still taste great. If you do leave it out, you can always add a little more tomato juice or broth to the soup to make up for the volume lost.
I have added some sherry to the soup to give it another layer of flavor, but you can always leave it out as well. One of the things I love most about cooking is that you can change things to suit your taste and preferences. For example, you can add other herbs besides the basil. Herbs that pair well with tomatoes are chives, cilantro, dill, paprika, rosemary, oregano, parsley and tarragon, to name a few. Play around with the recipe to find the right combination for your palate,
I’ve left the soup sort of rustic, with the bits of tomato floating in the broth, but you can puree the soup if you like yours creamier. Please, please, please, just be extra cautions when blending it up. Work in batches and only fill your blender half way because air can build up inside the blender container from the hot soup. Place a kitchen towel on top of the blender cover and hold on firmly to prevent the top from blowing off and spewing soup all over you and your kitchen. Trust me on this one. I’ve been there, done that. It was an awful mess to clean up, and I lost a good portion of my soup. For an even easier option, use an immersion blender. You don’t have to transfer the soup into another container, and it’s a whole lot easier to wash than the large blender. You just stick it down in the pot of soup and blend it to the desired consistency.
To blend or not to blend. You decide. I really like the little bits of tomato which add texture to the soup, but if you like it rich and smooth, go ahead on and blend it to your heart’s content.
Enjoy!
Rustic Datil Pepper Fire Roasted Tomato Soup with Datil Garlic Croutons
2cans(28 oz each) diced organic fire roasted tomatoes
2cupsof organic vegetable broth
2cupstomato juice, no salt added or low-sodium
1cupsherry, optional (get the good stuff – don’t use cooking sherry – it’s full of salt!)
3-4Tablespoonssugar, optional (to cut the acidity from the tomatoes)
1 1/2cupsheavy cream
1/4cupfresh basil leaves, chopped
Instructions
In a large heavy pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Cook the onion, stirring frequently, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
The perfect combination of Fresh From Florida Orange, Lemon, Lime and Datil Peppers, along with custom blended spices. Try it on everything from seafood to salad. It’s amazing here in the Fire Roasted Tomato Soup and Garlicy Croutons. This will become your go-to seasoning blend as it’s extremely versatile.
Mash the garlic and Datil Zest together with a fork to make a paste.
Add the butter to the bowl with the mashed garlic mixture. Cover bowl and microwave until the butter is fully melted, about 45 seconds. Stir to incorporate the butter and garlic mixture.
Place the bread cubes into a large bowl and drizzle with the butter. Stir well to coat all surfaces of the bread with the butter mixture.
Spread the bread cubes out on a large rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes, tossing halfway through baking.
Remove from the oven when golden and crispy. Serve with soup or your favorite salad.