Cream of Tomato Soup

Ingredients

• 2 28oz cans GOOD diced tomatoes (Muir Glen?)
  
• 1.75c chicken stock (or veg)
  
• 1.5 tbsp dark brown sugar
  
• 2tbsp butter
  
• 4 large shallots, minced
  
• 1tbsp tomato paste
  
• pinch of allspice
  
• 2tbsp unbleached white flour
  
• 1/2c whole milk
  
• 2tbsp brandy or dry sherry (we used vermouth)
  
• salt
  

Melt the butter in a soup pot, and add the shallots, tomato paste, and allspice. Cook until the shallots are soft and translucent. Add the flour and stir to coat, 30 seconds. Now add the tomatoes and broth and stir well. Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat, then simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Blend the soup until smooth. An immersion blender is best, but if you don't have one then a normal one would work too. We used a normal blender and did two batches. Return blended soup to the stove and add the whole milk. Return to heat and stir well until it's hot enough. Take off the heat and stir in the alcohol. Serve (with grilled cheese sandwiches?)

Thoughts: Really good. In the future we could go smoother, but the blender was a bit of an issue. An immersion blender would be awesome for this, but we didn't have one. Whole milk worked well - the original recipe called for cream. I mean, it was basic tomato soup, but the flavor was just perfect.

Disaster Index: 1/10