In case you missed it, I’m slowly cooking my way through Chrissy Tiegen’s latest cookbook, Hungry for More. What I thought was going to be a Julie & Julia moment with this book, has turned out to definitely not be that – at all. Please tell me you get that reference.
At any rate, what I’ve decided to do with Hungry for More is take a few recipes from each section and try those instead of cooking every single recipe in a cookbook. Who thought that would be a good idea? I wrote more about what this series is all about in the first section, breakfast & brunch. So far, I’m having a blast playing around with this book and I hope you’ll get it and experiment too.
So let’s talk about these soups: I got all of my ingredients at Earth Fare. Earth Fare is a health and wellness supermarket that first opened in Asheville, NC in 1975. I recently partnered with them as they celebrated the re-grand opening of one of their locations here in Chattanooga. Earth Fare has so much good stuff in there. From colorful produce to freshly made baked goods – they have all the goods. This is why it was so easy to find everything I needed (plus more) for these soups.
I hope you have an Earth Fare where you are. You can check here. One last thing I want to point out with Earth Fare is their food philosophy. They pledge that their products are free of added hormones, artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup – and other not-so-good ingredients.
Enough rambling. Let’s get into the soup and go to Earth Fare if you’re lucky enough to have one nearby.
Hungry for More: Soup!
So in this section there’s a variety of soups like: parmesan minestrone, French onion, bacony clam chowder and carrot coconut soup. We decided to make lazy shrimp & pork “wonton” soup and a wild card – creamy tomato soup with peppery parmesan crisps.
Most of you may know my strong dislike for tomatoes – unless it’s in ketchup form. Because I hate tomatoes so much, I figure I’d try my hand at making tomato soup – challenge myself, right? My idea of a challenge may not have been one of my smartest ideas because shocker: I didn’t love the tomato soup. Was it terrible? No. For someone who can’t get enough of tomato soup, you should make this recipe. It just wasn’t for me. I know there are lots of tomato lovers out there, so I’m going to share the soup recipe.
The shrimp & pork wonton soup was DELICIOUS. It consisted of making 4 really large shrimp and pork meatballs – yum! However, you’ll have to buy the book to get that recipe. Trust me, it’s worth it.
Next up: Salads!
Creamy tomato soup with parmesan crisps
Notes
*To roughly chop the tomatoes, open the can and use kitchen shears to cut them right in the can.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
- 4 garlic clove, chopped
- 1 (28 oz) can whole peeled tomatoes in juice, roughly chopped*
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth (or veggie broth)
- 1/2 tsp sugar, plus more to taste
- Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- Parmesan crisps (see below)
Parmesan crisps
- 3/4 cup finely grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
- Black pepper
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook - stirring until translucent - about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook another minute.
- Add the tomatoes (and their juice), the broth, sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until the liquid reduces a bit - about 15 minutes.
- Let the soup cool for a few minutes then pour it in a blender or food processor - blend on high speed (1-2 minutes). Add the cream and blend a few seconds more.
- Season to taste and add more salt, pepper and/or sugar, if needed.
- Divide among bowls and serve with parmesan crisps.
To make the parmesan crisps
- Heat oven to 375 degrees.
- Line a baking dish with parchment paper. Measure out a heaping tablespoon of cheese and pile it on the baking sheet - spreading it out a little until it's roughly 3 inches in diameter (it doesn't need to be perfect).
- Add black pepper to each pile and bake for 5-6 minutes. Let cool before serving.
That settles it, I need this book!