Lemony Tomato Soup

It was two days after the elec­tion, and I was feel­ing gloomy. More­over, it had — unex­pect­ed­ly — start­ed to snow, so the gloomi­ness inten­si­fied. Here, at 9,000 feet up in the Rocky Moun­tains, you take snow seriously. 

In any case, I turned back to my cur­rent book project, and start­ed a read-through, want­i­ng to be sure my com­plex sto­ry was log­i­cal so that it would be easy for my read­ers to follow.

[See my Octo­ber 22, 2024, blog post about log­ic to under­stand what was in my mind.]

Before I knew it, I had passed mid­day, and I was hun­gry. But it (and I) were still gloomy. What to do? Into my mind popped a recipe for Toma­to Soup that my wife (and I) love. Per­fect for a dull day and easy to make.

I won’t — at this point — share my new book. But I am hap­py to share the recipe, slight­ly adapt­ed. It’s called “Lemo­ny Toma­to Soup,” from the cook­book, Lemon Zest, by Lori Longbotham.

INGREDIENTS

2 table­spoons but­ter
1 large onion, chopped
I good squeeze of lemon­grass paste
zest from one lemon
28 oz canned whole toma­toes
1 table­spoon dried basil
1 tea­spoon salt
½ tea­spoon ground black pep­per
The fresh­ly squeezed juice of that lemon above
ground Parme­san cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Melt but­ter in pan
2. Cook chopped onion in but­ter till soft.
3. Add toma­toes and crush them
4. Add 1 cup of water. Zest. Basil. Lemon grass paste. Pep­per. Salt.
5. Sim­mer for 15 minutes.
6. Put all in a blender. Add lemon juice.
7. Serve hot with Parme­san cheese on top.

Was it good? By the time we had our soup lunch, it had stopped snow­ing, and the sun was shin­ing bright­ly. What oth­er proof can you ask for? In oth­er words, at that point the soup was a lot bet­ter than my new book. 

Enjoy (the soup).