la Madeleine Tomato Basil Soup

la Madeleine is a popular Country-French Cafe with locations primarily in the Southern United States. Their tomatoe basil soup is so delicious and wildly popular that the recipe is highly sought after.

There is, of course, no guarantee that any popular restaurant recipe can be exactly duplicated, but this recipe is just about as close as you are going to get.

Ingredients:

• 10 fresh Roma tomatoes
• 4 cups tomato juice
• 14 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Cut a shallow criss-cross slit into the stem end of each tomato. Gently place the tomatoes into the boiling water for two minutes. Remove and immediately plunge the tomatoes into a bowl of ice-water to stop the cooking. The skin should be loose and very easy to peel away.

Remove the skin from all of the tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise and scrape out the core. Roughly chop the peeled and cored tomatoes and place into a large soup pot.

Add the tomato juice to the soup pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the chopped basil leaves. Either with an immersion blender or in small batches in a food processor or blender, puree the mixture and return to the soup pot. Reduce the heat to low. Add the cream and butter and stir until the butter has fully melted.

Garnish with additional chopped fresh basil leaves and serve with crusty bread for a delicious lunch or light supper.