I have a confession to make. I like condensed tomato soup. Campbell's Tomato soup was a childhood staple but I haven't had it in years because of the high fructose corn syrup and our corn sensitivities. Who else had grilled cheese and tomato soup as a standard school lunch or just comfort food lunch? I have tried many tomato soup recipes over the years and just not been happy with them. Well I finally found a recipe that makes me happy, my hubby happy, the kids happy, and I don't need to ever worry about canned tomato soup again. It's mostly a pantry recipe too, so that's a bonus! It does call for cream but I expect in a pinch you could substitute evaporated milk for similar results. I never made the creamy version of canned tomato soup with milk, instead using just water to reconstitute, but the cream in this recipe adds a nice, round balance and temper to the acidity of the tomatoes. Probably similar to what the wheat flour does in the canned version. This soup makes me happy because it works for my childhood sensibilities as well as my adult palate and ingredient radar. Hubby gave it a two thumbs up, give me crackers, why are you taking it all to the game night, please make more next time rating. (Actually I did throw together another batch in about 45 minutes so there would be enough for everyone!)
Of course this soup can be made in a regular pressure cooker, or just cooked without pressure on the stove top as well. You may want to add a little water if cooking on the stove top to thin to desired consistency.
Instant Pot Tomato Soup
6 servings
Ingredients:
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, very thinly sliced
3 large garlic cloves, smashed
2 (28oz.) cans whole tomatoes with their juice (about 6 cups)
1½ tbsp sugar
¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon celery seed
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, very thinly sliced
3 large garlic cloves, smashed
2 (28oz.) cans whole tomatoes with their juice (about 6 cups)
1½ tbsp sugar
¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon celery seed
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1 tsp sea salt
2/3 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/8 tsp white pepper
freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste
Directions:
Set your pressure cooker to saute, or heat a pot to medium heat on stove. Melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook and stir occasionally until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, sugar, crushed red pepper, celery seed, oregano, and bay leaf, and season with the salt and black pepper. Using the "soup" or "manual" pressure function, cook at high pressure for 15 minutes. Release pressure. (If cooking without a pressure cooker, bring the soup to a boil over high heat. Break up the tomatoes with a potato masher or the back of a spoon. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes.) Remove the bay leaf.
Using an immersion blender, puree the soup to desired texture. Or, working in batches, transfer the tomato soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Return the soup to the pot and stir in the cream and white pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning with additional salt and pepper if necessary. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.
Grilled cheese sandwiches are a highly recommended accompaniment.
This is fabulous soup! Many thanks for posting your recipe. (We only altered it a little. Instead of using an instapot (we don't have one), we used a regular soup pot on the stove, and instead of adding cream, we used milk and butter - enough butter ...okay, maybe more :-D ... to make the milk be like cream.)
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