{"id":1492,"date":"2015-05-26T15:32:52","date_gmt":"2015-05-26T20:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/?p=1492"},"modified":"2015-11-06T11:18:16","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T17:18:16","slug":"yes-i-can-tomato-basil-sausage-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/?p=1492","title":{"rendered":"Yes We Can: Tomato, Basil &#038; Sausage Soup"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none\"><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fthesoupblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D1492&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=true&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;width=450&amp;height=30\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width: 450px; height: 30px;\"><\/iframe><\/div><div id=\"attachment_1516\" style=\"width: 392px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-1516\" href=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/?attachment_id=1516\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1516\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1516 \" style=\"border: 12px solid red;\" title=\"Obama Tomato\" src=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Obama-Tomato.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"382\" height=\"553\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1516\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yes We Can!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>When I was a kid, the go-to tomato soup was a can of Campbell\u2019s. We\u2019d slop the contents into a pot, fill the empty can with water, add it to the pot and heat.<\/p>\n<p>Okay, I didn\u2019t do any of that. My mom did.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019d also make us grilled cheese sandwiches on the broiler while we added the finishing touch of crumbled saltines. Of course, the soup to saltine ratio varied. Some preferred equal volumes of each, some just a sprinkling of cracker dust. Whichever way you liked it, the meal was simple and good. Not terribly sophisticated, but then neither were we.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s kids aren\u2019t any more sophisticated than we were, but their parents are. That\u2019s why the current tomato soup of choice is the more full flavored tomato basil. It\u2019s on just about every menu in town and kids love it, which is another way of saying they\u2019ll eat it.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n<p>As far as the tomatoes used for these soups, it wasn\u2019t much of an issue for me as a kid.\u00a0 True, we grew our own tomatoes out there in California, which I enjoyed with a nice slathering of mayonnaise, but I don\u2019t remember using them in any kind of cooking. We ate them raw\u2014in salads, sandwiches and by themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Granted, with my boyish memory, what I remember most about our tomatoes was the hornworms that we\u2019d pick off the plants. They wreaked havoc on the tomato leaves and although they got up to several inches long they still weren\u2019t all that easy to find.<\/p>\n<p>The tomatoes we grew were mostly beefsteaks and cherries but they were delicious, even more so than the high-priced heirloom varieties that will make their way into the stores in a few months.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s when I\u2019m supposed to start thinking about tomato soup\u2014when they\u2019re actually in season. But I couldn\u2019t help myself. I had this package of Italian sausage I wanted to use and Tomato, Basil &amp; Sausage soup seemed like a great way to get rid of it.<\/p>\n<p>So despite my excitement about the summer weather that has finally arrived here in the Midwest\u00a0 (not counting today), I pulled this week\u2019s soup out of the pantry. As soon as the farmer\u2019s markets open up here, I\u2019ll go all in for fresh vegetables, but for now, as it was in my childhood, getting stuff out of a can isn\u2019t so bad.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, it\u2019s probably more PC than buying fresh tomatoes that have been shipped across international borders to get here. Canned food is food that has been preserved at the peak of its flavor (In theory), so why not use it? Especially when Costco sells cans of organic diced tomatoes.<\/p>\n<p>The soup went something like this: I saut\u00e9ed some onions in oil along with a pound of sausage, tossed in a little garlic, tomatoes, stock, basil and seasoning and that was about it.<\/p>\n<p>And did my kids like it? You bet. Except for the big chunks of sausage they left at the bottom of their bowls, which meant there was more for me.<\/p>\n<p>Everybody won, maybe even you. Because I canned the leftover soup, it just might find its way under your tree this Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>Happy Holidays!\u00a0 Memorial Day, Xmas, whatever.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tomato, Basil &amp; Sausage Soup<br \/>\n<\/strong>(serves 4-6)<br \/>\n1 T canola oil<br \/>\n2 small onions, chopped<br \/>\n4 cloves garlic, minced<br \/>\n1 lb Italian sausage, sliced and chopped (I skinned them first, but that\u2019s your call)<br \/>\n4 14 \u00bd ounce cans diced tomatoes (or 3 lbs fresh tomatoes, chopped)<br \/>\n4 cups stock<br \/>\n\u00bc cup dried (or \u00be cup fresh)<br \/>\nsalt &amp; pepper to taste<br \/>\nParmesan cheese (optional)<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Heat the oil on medium in a 3-5      quart soup pot and saut\u00e9 the onions and sausages until slightly brown.      Then remove the sausages.<\/li>\n<li>Add the garlic to the pan and saut\u00e9      for a few minutes (don\u2019t burn them).<\/li>\n<li>Add tomatoes, stock, basil and      seasonings to the pot, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 30-45      minutes.<\/li>\n<li>Puree the soup with an      immersion blender, add the sausage back to the pot and heat through.<\/li>\n<li>Serve warm with the optional      sprinkles of parmesan on top.\u00a0 It\u2019s      great al fresco food and goes great with most anything that comes off the      grill.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>Image Credit: <\/em>\u201cHoping For Soup,\u201d with apologies from the author.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What tomatoes do you like using for soup?\u00a0 Romas seem like the obvious choice for an Italian Tomato soup, but what about something hardy and American?\u00a0 Let me know what you would do?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I was a kid, the go-to tomato soup was a can of Campbell\u2019s. We\u2019d slop the contents into a pot, fill the empty can with water, add it to the pot and heat. Okay, I didn\u2019t do any of that. My mom did. She\u2019d also make us grilled cheese sandwiches on the broiler while [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,10,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-herbs","category-pork","category-tomatoes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1492"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1520,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1492\/revisions\/1520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}