Ingredients

4 cups tomatoes, peeled, cored and chopped (8-10) or canned whole tomatoes, crushed

4 cups tomato juice (or part vegetable or part chicken stock; I use half of each)

12-14 fresh basil leaves, washed

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup sweet unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper

parmesan cheese (to garnish)

salt

Preparation

  1. Combine tomatoes, juice and/or stock in saucepan.
  2. Simmer 30 minutes.
  3. Puree, along with the basil leaves, in small batches, in Blender or food processor. (Or better yet, one of those handy hand-held food blenders, right in the cooking pan.)
  4. Return to saucepan and add cream and butter, while stirring, over low heat.
  5. Garnish with parmesan and basil leaves and serve with your favorite bread.
  6. Note: Actually what I did was make some garlic parmesan croutons and float them in the soup. Oh yeah…)