Cream of Tomato Basil Soup and Nostalgia

When I walked out of the bathroom stall she was standing there at the sink, drying her hands veerry sloooowwly on a paper towel. She looked like a tall version of Velma from Scooby Doo - wide set eyes and freckles behind a pair of dark librarian glasses and an auburn bob haircut.

"Aren't you one of the girls on my floor? What's your name again? I'm Wendy." She extended a very dry hand for shaking.

"Yeah, I'm Amanda. I'm down the hall."

"Did you know this was going to be a religious thing? I missed the part about this being at the Baptist Student Union. I thought it was just free pizza," she said, trying to suss out my level of involvement in our present situation.

"No, definitely not. That girl just said there was a place on campus giving out free pizza for move-in day. She did NOT say it was the Baptist Student Union, and I'm pretty sure we aren't even ON campus any more," I griped with relief at having found a compatriot also hiding out in the ladies' room.

"Wanna try to sneak out of here? I'm ready to GO."

"I think I saw a side exit door around the corner. We'll have to try to figure out how to get back to the dorm, but it's better than staying here."

It was our first day at college. We'd just moved in to student housing with the rest of the freshman and had been assigned rooms down the hall from one another. Everyone on our floor was new except for the one uber-friendly Senior girl who had introduced us all to each other and invited us to tag along with her and her friend to get pizza for dinner. Growing up in the Bible Belt as we both did, we should've been more suspicious. In hindsight, we'd both tell you that there's no such thing in this world as free pizza.

But after that harrowing adventure, we were the best of friends. We ate most the rest of our meals together in the neutral safety of official campus food services facilities. We hung out in each other's rooms and took classes together. We went to our first college party together. We rented our first college apartment together.

We soon established a Saturday afternoon ritual of doing laundry and having lunch and coffee at the local French bakery on Campus Corner. They had this cream of tomato basil soup that we both loved, served with a crunchy-on-the-outside-chewy on-the-inside French bread roll. Scraping up the few dollars for a bowl of soup and an iced coffee was well worth the sophisticated luxury of chatting away the afternoon in a college-town sidewalk café. Our ritual was proof that we were not like those BSU girls, blonde and bouncy and worried about what Jesus would think of us. We were worldly, intellectual, independent, and brave.

To this day, I have an emotional connection to cream of tomato basil soup. Whenever it's on the menu, I usually have to give it a try. I keep an eye out for recipes that seem like they'll replicate the taste from my memories, but it's hard to find just the RIGHT soup. This winter, I have finally found a recipe I like quite a bit. It's super easy to make, and the girls and Mike will eat it happily, so it's a win for everyone. I can't get those French bread rolls, but you can't beat a grilled cheese to go with tomato soup, and I do have access to some rather superior Italian scali bread.

My recipe comes from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything (which I highly recommend)...

Cream of Tomato Soup

2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 large onion
1 carrot, diced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped tomato (canned is fine; include the juices) [Having experimented with this, I recommend the big cans of imported, Italian branded chopped tomatoes. They really do taste sweeter.]
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves [Obviously, I use basil]
1 cup cream or half-and-half
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
Chopped fresh parsley or basil leaves or crouton for garnish (optional) [Or grated parmesan, because there's no such thing as too much dairy in my universe.]

1. Put the butter in a large, deep pot over medium heat. When hot, add the tomato paste and let it cook for a minute, then add the onion and carrot. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until the onion begins to soften, about 5 minutes.

2. Add the tomato and the herb and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomato breaks up, 10 to 15 minutes. [I'm no professional chef, for sure, but the first time I made this soup, it tasted thin and acidic and too tangy. I discovered that it needed a LOT more salt than I had put in. Keep adding it until the soup suddenly tastes delicious. I think the tomato is just so acidic it needs the salt for balance, even if it feels excessive to you.]

3. Add the half-and-half and puree the soup carefully in a blender, with an immersion blender, or through a food mill. [I LOVE my immersion blender! Worth every penny.] Reheat, garnish, and serve.

As I said, these days I serve this for dinner with grilled cheese sandwiches for my girls and we probably listen to some Shovels and Rope while we eat. But if you really want to do it up right, old skool, put on some black leggings, Doc Martens, and a huge sweater. Make yourself an iced coffee in a pint glass. Put some Bob Marley on the stereo and set your old, tattered copy of To the Lighthouse next to your bowl. Then call your friend, Wendy, and catch up. [I need to call my friend, Wendy.]

Curry Instead of Cupcakes

Well, I was going to post some photos of Kate's birthday celebrations, but I've looked everywhere and can't find where Mike hid the camera! It's probably put away wherever it is that the camera belongs, but I don't know where that is.

So I'll write about the delicious soup I made yesterday and give you the recipe so you can taste it, too. It's a creamy wild rice and chicken soup with a hint of curry that just makes it so perfect. My mom made it for us when we were in Oklahoma in December, and I loved it so much. She got the recipe from her coworker Kathy, who got it from a cookbook published by war veterans! Army dudes can cook!

When I called my mom yesterday to find out if she added more curry (we're big fans of curry in our family and often add more than the recipe calls for - but not this time, it's the perfect amount), I found out that she was actually making the same soup at the same time! All the popular kids are doing it.

I will admit that it's a bit of a chore to make as you have to cook the rice and the chicken (separately) first and then chop up a bunch of veggies, and I've never used more chicken broth at once in a recipe ever, but it's totally worth it, trust me. Well, and then there's the fact that it's got a whole stick of butter and two cups of half and half in it, so.... So you know it's super delicious, that's what that means! You can make it vegetarian by leaving the chicken out and using veggie broth and it would easily be just as good. There are plenty of veggies in it, and veggies are good for you. Am I selling this or are you getting scared?! So clear your calendar for next Saturday afternoon and whip up a vat of this stuff (and it does make a vat, we have so much of it leftover - good thing I love it). Enjoy!

Wild Rice Soup

1 1/2 cups wild rice
8 cups chicken broth
4 cups chicken broth
(that's about equal to THREE boxes of Swanson's)
1 tsp. thyme, dried
1 tsp. salt
3 bay leaves
1 med. onion, chopped fine
1 tsp. black pepper
1 cup celery, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry sherry (important, don't skip)
1/2 cup carrot, chopped
2 cups heavy cream, half and half, or whole milk
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. curry powder
1/2 cup flour
2 cups cooked chicken, optional

Rinse wild rice until water is clear. Cook rice in 4 cups of chicken broth with salt over medium heat until rice is tender (approximately 35 minutes).

In a heavy soup pot, saute onion, celery, carrot, and mushrooms in butter (about 5 minutes). Mix in flour and cook over medium heat about 5 more minutes.

Add 8 cups of chicken broth, seasonings, and sherry. Bring to a boil stirring constantly until slightly thickened (about 10 minutes).

Add reserved rice with any remaining cooking liquid and the cream. Cook over low heat about 1 hour.

Adjust seasonings and add curry powder and chicken. Simmer 30 minutes.

Best made one day ahead. May be frozen.