Fiesta Tomato Soup Food

THE BEST TOMATO SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the celery, onions, garlic and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are softened but not browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in the crushed tomatoes. Add the broth and thyme leaves. Cover and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour.
• Let the hot soup cool for about 5 minutes or so, then transfer half of it to a blender filling no more than halfway. Add 2 tablespoons of the butter. Remove the center cap from the lid and place it on the blender. Cover the lid with a kitchen towel to catch splatters, and pulse until smooth. Pour into a clean pot or container. Repeat with the remaining soup and butter. Season with salt and pepper.
• Ladle the soup into bowls and drizzle with more oil before serving.

BEST TOMATO SOUP EVER

Steps:

• To begin, dice the onion. Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven. Throw in the onion and cook until translucent.
• Now dump in the diced tomatoes and stir to combine. Add the tomato juice.
• Next - and this is important - in order to combat the acidity of the tomatoes add 3 to 6 tablespoons of sugar. Now, you'll want to start on the low side, then taste and add more as needed. Some tomatoes and juice have more of an acidic bite than others. (For what it's worth, and I realize it's not worth much, I use 6 tablespoons of sugar.)
• Next, add 1 or 2 tablespoons chicken base to the pot. I added 3, and it wound up being a little too much.
• Now you can add lots of freshly ground black pepper. Stir to combine, then heat almost to a boil. Then turn off the heat.
• Add in the sherry if desired. Stir in the cream. Add the basil and parsley and stir.
• Serve the soup warm!

FIESTA TATER TOT® CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a 9x13-inch casserole dish with cooking spray.
• Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and stir in ground beef, green onion, and 1/2 package taco seasoning. Cook and stir mixture until the beef is crumbly, evenly browned, and no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Drain and discard any excess grease.
• Combine remaining taco seasoning mix with tomato soup, nacho cheese soup, and milk in a saucepan; heat soup mixture until just boiling.
• Layer potato nuggets in the prepared casserole dish.
• Bake in the preheated oven until potato nuggets begin to crisp, about 10 minutes.
• Spoon ground beef mixture over potato nuggets; pour in soup mixture.
• Bake until soup mixture is bubbling, 15 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle casserole with Mexican cheese blend; bake until cheese is melted, 5 to 10 minutes.

TOMATO SOUP

Steps:

• Firstly, prepare your vegetables. You need 1-1.25kg/2lb 4oz-2lb 12oz ripe tomatoes. If the tomatoes are on their vines, pull them off. The green stalky bits should come off at the same time, but if they don't, just pull or twist them off afterwards. Throw the vines and green bits away and wash the tomatoes. Now cut each tomato into quarters and slice off any hard cores (they don't soften during cooking and you'd get hard bits in the soup at the end). Peel 1 medium onion and 1 small carrot and chop them into small pieces. Chop 1 celery stick roughly the same size.
• Spoon 2 tbsp olive oil into a large heavy-based pan and heat it over a low heat. Hold your hand over the pan until you can feel the heat rising from the oil, then tip in the onion, carrot and celery and mix them together with a wooden spoon. Still with the heat low, cook the vegetables until they're soft and faintly coloured. This should take about 10 minutes and you should stir them two or three times so they cook evenly and don't stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Holding the tube over the pan, squirt in about 2 tsp of tomato purée, then stir it around so it turns the vegetables red. Shoot the tomatoes in off the chopping board, sprinkle in a good pinch of sugar and grind in a little black pepper. Tear 2 bay leaves into a few pieces and throw them into the pan. Stir to mix everything together, put the lid on the pan and let the tomatoes stew over a low heat for 10 minutes until they shrink down in the pan and their juices flow nicely. From time to time, give the pan a good shake - this will keep everything well mixed.
• Slowly pour in the 1.2 litres/ 2 pints of hot stock (made with boiling water and 4 rounded tsp bouillon powder or 2 stock cubes), stirring at the same time to mix it with the vegetables. Turn up the heat as high as it will go and wait until everything is bubbling, then turn the heat down to low again and put the lid back on the pan. Cook gently for 25 minutes, stirring a couple of times. At the end of cooking the tomatoes will have broken down and be very slushy looking.
• Remove the pan from the heat, take the lid off and stand back for a few seconds or so while the steam escapes, then fish out the pieces of bay leaf and throw them away. Ladle the soup into your blender until it's about three-quarters full, fit the lid on tightly and turn the machine on full. Blitz until the soup's smooth (stop the machine and lift the lid to check after about 30 seconds), then pour the puréed soup into a large bowl. Repeat with the soup that's left in the pan. (The soup may now be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost before reheating.)
• Pour the puréed soup back into the pan and reheat it over a medium heat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally until you can see bubbles breaking gently on the surface. Taste a spoonful and add a pinch or two of salt if you think the soup needs it, plus more pepper and sugar if you like. If the colour's not a deep enough red for you, plop in another teaspoon of tomato purée and stir until it dissolves. Ladle into bowls and serve. Or sieve and serve chilled with some cream swirled in. For other serving suggestions, see opposite.

FIESTA TOMATO SOUP RECIPE

Steps:

• Place soup, cumin, chili powder, pepper and juice in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmering 5 to 8 minutes to blend flavors. For pico de gallo: Mix diced tomatoes, onion and cilantro in a small bowl. Season with salt and hot sauce to taste. Slice avocado into quarters, then into fans. If desired, place sour cream in a small zip-seal bag and cut off a tiny corner of the bag. Ladle soup into 4 bowls. Carefully place an avocado fan on top of each and garnish with pico de gallo. Drizzle each with sour cream. Makes 4 servings.

MEXICAN FIESTA SOUP WITH ROASTED TOMATILLO AND CILANTRO PESTO

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place tomatillos on a small rimmed baking sheet. Roast in oven, turning once midway through, until they are softened and slightly charred, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool slightly. Transfer to the bowl of a food processor; add cilantro, 1 garlic clove, and lime juice. Process until smooth and combined; set aside.
• Lightly coat bottom of a large nonstick saucepan with cooking spray. Add onion, remaining garlic clove, and diced jalapeno; cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat until onion is softened, about 7 minutes. Add cumin, tomatoes, corn, and chicken stock. Bring liquid to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer until vegetables are tender, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Remove from heat; stir in 3 tablespoons reserved tomatillo mixture, and season with pepper. Add sliced avocado. Ladle into serving bowls; garnish with jalapeno slices, if desired. Serve with remaining tomatillo pesto.

SPICY FIESTA TACO SOUP

Steps:

• In a large stock pot, add olive oil and jalapeno. Sauté pepper until soft and fragrant, 3-4 minutes.
• Add chicken broth and bring to a boil.
• Meanwhile, measure out the rice. Put rice in a strainer/fine colander and rinse under cold running water until water runs clear. (This removes some of the starch.).
• To the stock pot, add the brown rice, onion, tomato sauce, seasonings, pinto beans and diced tomatoes.
• Reduce heat to medium-low, stir pot, cover and simmer 30-45 minutes (until rice is done, according to your package directions).
• To serve, ladle soup into bowls. Add crushed corn tortilla chips and sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese.
• Enjoy!