Creamy Tomato Soup

Creamy Tomato Soup

Fall is about family, giving thanks, love, warmth and comfort food. This soup is full of flavor, and full of all the wonders of fall. I recommend eating this soup on a rainy day.

This soup does contain bacon, and chicken broth. Two tablespoons of olive oil, and vegetable broth can be easily substituted to make this soup vegan. The only "thing" about this soup is that it uses every pan in your kitchen, plus the blender!! So, be ready for some dishes, but it's totally worth it!!

Creamy Tomato Soup with Foccacia

• 4 pieces of thick cut bacon
• 1 small-medium onion, or 1/2 large onion, chopped fine
• 60 ounces canned diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 cups chicken broth (16 ounces, homemade is best)
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Garnishes: chopped cooked bacon, cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, sour cream, basil, or croutons.

1. In a large heavy saucepan over medium high heat, cook the bacon, careful not to burn the bacon.  When done, remove bacon from pan, and set aside to drain.  DO NOT POUR out bacon fat from pan.  Immediately add onion to bacon fat, and saute until onion is translucent and cooked, scraping up all the browned bits.
2. Add drained tomatoes to onions.  Saute until the tomatoes start to caramelize, and begin to break down.  Add in chicken broth, and season with salt, pepper and sugar.  Let simmer for about 20 minutes, until mixture is thick, and tomatoes have broken down further.  Turn off heat, and let soup cool slightly.  Use the simmer time to chop up the bacon that you cooked earlier.  
3. 1-2 cups at a time, puree soup in a blender.  The soup will be hot, therefore the steam from the soup will create pressure in the blender.  IF you have too much soup in the blender, the blender will explode open, and you will be covered in hot soup.  This is not fun, this is painful and dangerous.  SO, 1-2 cups of soup, in the blender.  Puree until smooth, and then strain into another large saucepan.
4. Return soup to a simmer, stir in basil and heavy cream.  Do not let soup boil.
5. Pour into soup bowls.  Serve with crusty bread, or grilled cheese sandwiches.  Garnish and serve!