Winter Garden Tomato Soup

Our Winter Garden Tomato Soup. Garnished with Greek yogurt and parsley and served with the last remaining heart-shaped grilled cheese sandwich, a sweet way to share a bit of love in the thick of our deep February winter here in Upstate New York.

Here at home in snowy Upstate New York, soups are synonymous with Winter Kitchen. And for Arcadian Revival, soups are one of our very favorite dishes to make and share. Personally, I love the versatility of swapping out ingredients, the smell of something savory simmering on the stovetop, and the warmth of enjoying a cup or bowl, or mug with a slice of buttered bread to thaw snowy hands and hearts. 

Soup becomes an entire experience when paired with a blanket, slippers, or a cozy sweater in front of our fire. Calm music playing and watching layers of snow thickly falling as we’ve watched here adds to the ambiance with little effort on our part. And while the likeliness of an evening as herein described happens seldom with the sounds of our young children filling most quiet spaces, the foundational warmth created with a simple soup sets that backdrop of the feeling of home. 

And with that, we share with you one of our versions of tomato soup, creamy enough to crave, and yet light enough and packed with vegetables to be a staple to build into your menu-planning repertoire.  

Ingredients

Two twenty-eight ounce cans of crushed tomatoes, supplemented or replaced by fresh organic or local tomatoes from the garden

Olive oil

Three cloves of garlic 

Half a cup of mushrooms of choice

A third cup of carrots, optional

One medium yellow onion 

Two cups of preferred vegetable stock

Two cups of milk

One third pound of parmesan cheese, cubed

Salt to taste

Fresh or dried parsley 

5% Greek yogurt 

Special Equipment

A key to the smoothness of this soup is a high-powered blender. We use our Vitamix for this recipe.

Instructions

In a large dutch oven or soup pot (we used our 7.25 quart that serves up to eight), cover the bottom of the pot with olive oil and add the entire chopped yellow onion. 

Add three cloves of garlic, finely chopped.

Let cook on a low temperature, periodically stirring.

Once cooked, add a combination of canned and fresh or frozen garden tomatoes, keeping in mind that additional stock or milk can be added at the end of the recipe for desired consistency. 

Add vegetable stock and parsley.

Bring to a boil.

Use a ladle to scoop soup into Vitamix a third of the way full. 

Add carrots and mushrooms to Vitamix. 

Purée until completely smooth. 

Transfer to a lightweight mixing bowl and set aside.

Repeat transfer of soup to blender to purée until all the entire soup has been blended (one to two additional times). Pour soup back into a pot or dutch oven and bring to temperature.

Add milk. Stir well. 

Add parmesan cheese cut into small pieces to soup and return to simmer. 

Once cheese feels fully dissolved by stirring, adjust salt to taste and thickness as desired. Soup is ready.

To serve, ladle soup in a bowl with a spoonful of greek yogurt and parsley to garnish. Serve also with bread or grilled cheese of choice. 

I prefer a hearty wheat bread or anything that feels convenient for dipping into the soup. This past week, we paired our Winter Garden Tomato Soup with heart-shaped grilled cheese sandwiches for Valentine’s Day…perfect for little hands and sharing a bit of love with a meal.

What I crave the most about this recipe is the versatility to adjust the flavors and ingredients based on personal preferences, as well as what might still remain frozen from last season’s garden. While I love the opportunity to incorporate mushrooms and carrots, other vegetables can easily be swapped out, including peppers, turnips, and celery. Just remember that a leafy green will have quite the impact in color. 

Sending wishes for a winter full of warmth that we hope you can find in this recipe and bring into your home.

Bethany