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The cold wakes me long before my alarm rings. It has seeped into my consciousness, like a thousand tiny needles of discomfort. There’s a pearl of cold moisture dripping from my nose. My hands ache, their skin tight, and dry, peppered with a thousand painful little nicks and cracks. Even my nipples are protesting, rubbing painfully against my cotton t-shirt. I burrow deeper into my bed, reaching for a warmth that is not there. I know, without opening my eyes, that I’ll be able to see my breath hovering before me in the early morning light of my bedroom.
The furnace is out again.
We’ve learned that when you buy a house that is over a hundred years loud, you don’t take possession of it when you sign the papers. You take ownership over the next 12 months, by writing an endless series of checks to fix a century of quick-fix solutions. Everyday we find new holes in the walls, new creative plumbing strategies, and now this latest disaster: inventive heating.
I’ve been talking a big game about not being daunted by the Chicago winter, but this morning almost got the best of me. It was the combination of spending yet another day trapped at home by a service window, and the lingering cold and discomfort that a turtleneck and ski sweater hadn’t conquered. The temptation to huddle under a fuzzy blanket and indulge in a morning of self-pity was intense, but I decided to make a batch of cream of tomato soup instead.
I reached for a sweet onion, a bottle of Sherry, and some cans of fire roasted tomatoes, and soon the kitchen’s smells of warmth and comfort had banished the cold from my bones. I didn’t even have to dip into the sherry for help warming up.
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| I like this soup chunky, with a little added color from the roasted tomatoes. |
Fire Roasted Cream of Tomato Soup
Serves 4
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of butter
1 sweet yellow onion, diced
3 14.5 oz cans of fire roasted tomatoes
2 cups of tomato juice
2 to 4 tablespoons of light brown sugar
1/3 cups of sherry
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1/3 cups of shredded mozzarella
salt and pepper
- Heat a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the butter until melted.
- Add the onions and saute until translucent and soft, about 5-7 minutes.
- Pour in the fire roasted tomatoes and stir well. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, about 3 minutes.
- Add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and mix well. Pour in the tomato juice. Bring back to a boil.
- Now taste the soup to assess the acidity. Every batch of tomatoes is different and you may need a little more sugar at this point if the soup still tastes really acidic. You’ll know when you have it right. Add more sugar one tablespoon at a time to not go from acidic to too sweet all at once.
- Pour in the sherry and bring back to a boil. I like to boil away the boozy taste that comes from the alcohol, leaving behind just the savory sweetness of sherry. Boil for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Before serving, sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top. If you were really in the mood for a special treat, you could serve this soup with some warm corn bread for dunking. That may be my coping strategy for this afternoon if the heat man doesn’t arrive soon.
>What a coincidence, I made some roasted tomato soup for lunch! I had roasted the last of our garden tomatoes and froze them, then made them into soup. So good with toasted cheese!