Quick and Really Good Cream of Tomato Soup

So, it's a rainy day here in Austin and I asked my wife what she wanted for dinner. She said, "Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich." For her that means american processed cheese slice on (thanks to my tutelage) sourdough bread, grilled. As for the soup, it's Campbell's Tomato Soup made with (shudder) water. I can't get her off of that (I also can't convince her to add a little grilled onion or tomato to her grilled cheese much less a little cayenne or herbs). It's Campbell's or nothing. Well, tomato soup and grilled cheese seemed good to me too, I just didn't want Campbell's. I also didn't want to spend an hour making soup. So, I dreamed up this little concoction. It's tasty and soothing; real comfort food. It's fast too. Not as fast as opening a can, stirring in a can of water and zapping for 3 minutes; but pretty close.

Buy a can of diced tomatoes. The store where I go has all kinds of flavors and I picked up some diced tomatoes with roasted garlic. Grab some cream, some chicken broth or stock if you don't have some at home, an onion, some garlic and that's it. Chop up half of the onion and a couple cloves of garlic. I used my stick blender with the chopping bowl attachment. Took 20 seconds. Then saute that in some olive oil in a medium sauce pan. After they are soft throw in the tomatoes (I had some grape tomatoes on hand and roasted them in a 450 degree oven with some olive oil and salt for about twenty minutes until they started to get brown and threw them in with the other tomatoes; this is entirely optional; I just had them on hand). Add some chicken broth, about a cup, maybe more, so that you have a real chunky soup. Let that simmer for 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Then add some cream and take the stick blender to it. Get it as smooth as you like it. You can strain it if you like, but I like it a little chunky. Add some more chicken broth or cream as you like. Salt and pepper to taste. And it is yummy. Basically 15 minutes from door to table and you're done. And it is so much better than Campbell's (with all due respect to Campbell's).