Olive Garden's Cream of Tomato and Basil Soup

If you go to Olive Garden's website, they offer a lot of their recipes so you can try them at home. I tried making their Cream of Tomato and Basil Soup tonight (with grilled sourdough cheese sandwhices...yum). It was great! It did take MUCH longer than the 15 minute. It took me close to an hour to reduce everything. I used a normal sauce pan. Maybe use a larger pot so it'll reduce quicker? A couple other things I tweaked:

1) I didn't have the full 2 cups of white wine. So I used what I had and then finished the 2 cups with chicken broth.

2) After I pureed it up (hint--use a hand immersible blender aka stick blender if you have it. It makes like a lot easier!) I felt like it wasn't as tomato-y as I wanted. So I chopped up a tomato we had from the garden. That helped. I think next time I do this I'll try using 2 cans of diced tomatoes instead of just one.

3) We have Basil in our garden, so we have an ample supply of the fresh herb. I don't know how dried basil would taste though. I would recommend getting the fresh stuff, if you can.

4) Taste, taste, taste! AFter it's all pureed, keep tasting and adding salt/pepper as needed.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Serving Size: 4

Ingredients
4 Tbsp butter
1 ea small red onion, diced
2 cups dry white wine
3 cups canned diced tomatoes (or 1 12-oz can)
2 cups heavy cream
3 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste

Procedures
1.MELT butter in a heavy sauce pan. Add red onions and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add white wine and reduce by 3/4. Add tomatoes and heavy cream, bring to a simmer and reduce by 1/2.
2.PUREE soup in a food processor. Stir in 2 Tbsp chopped basil, salt and pepper.
3.GARNISH with remaining fresh basil and tomatoes and serve.

Clam Chowder

I love soup. Darrin doesn't. Except Clam Chowder. He LOVES Clam Chowder. So I decided to make clam chowder for dinner so we all could enjoy a nice big bowl of yummy soup on a cold fall day. I was reading him different titles and when I read this one, his ever-cheese-loving Dutch ears perked up. Marilyn's Cheesy Clam Chowder. Now, according to some Food Network judges - seafood and cheese are a BIG no no. But I'm not married to a Food Network judge. I'm married to a Dutchman who loves his cheese. And his clam chowder. So I decided to put away what the TV told me and jump head first into the forbidden culinary concoction.

Lo and behold ....it was pretty good!!!! :) :) You really couldn't taste the cheese, it just help make the soup thick and silky. Even the kids liked it! :) The only bad part is that it's not the cheapest meal. The jars od Clam juice were $2 each (total of $4) and the canned clams were $3 each (total of $9). So right there is $13. Not to mention the half and half and cheese....it can just get a little pricey. But it was still good and it made a good amount. I even froze some! :) Here's the recipe. Enjoy!


Ingredients
6 slices bacon
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup finely diced onion
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 (8 ounce) cans clams
2 (8 ounce) jars clam juice
4 cups milk
1 cup cubed potatoes
1 (8 ounce) package white Cheddar cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Directions
1.In a Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon, drain on paper towels, and crumble. Reserve. Drain clams, reserve juice.

2.Cook and stir carrot, celery, and onion in bacon fat until onion is transparent.

3.Stir in flour, cornstarch, potatoes, salt, and pepper. Cook and stir until mixture is bubbly. Add reserved clam liquor to clam juice to measure 3 1/2 cups; stir juice and milk into the vegetable mixture. Heat just to boiling, and reduce heat to simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens.

4.Add clams, and cheese; stir until cheese is melted and potatoes are done. Sprinkle with reserved bacon, and garnish with chopped parsley.

Cheddar Corn Chowder

Update at Bottom!!
-------------------------
Just something that I want to make and don't want to lose the recipe. Sounds yummy, huh? Great for a rainy day.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cheddar-corn-chowder-recipe/index.html


Ingredients

8 ounces bacon, chopped
1/4 cup good olive oil
6 cups chopped yellow onions (4 large onions)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
12 cups chicken stock
6 cups medium-diced white boiling potatoes, unpeeled (2 pounds)
10 cups corn kernels, fresh (10 ears) or frozen (3 pounds)
2 cups half-and-half
8 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese, grated


Directions

In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, cook the bacon and olive oil until the bacon is crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and reserve. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onions and butter to the fat, and cook for 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent.

Stir in the flour, salt, pepper, and turmeric and cook for 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and potatoes, bring to a boil, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. If using fresh corn, cut the kernels off the cob and blanch them for 3 minutes in boiling salted water. Drain. (If using frozen corn you can skip this step.) Add the corn to the soup, then add the half-and-half and cheddar. Cook for 5 more minutes, until the cheese is melted. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Serve hot with a garnish of bacon.
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Update!
I made this tonight and it was great!  My mom loved it so much she had seconds. :) I did make some changes though.  I cut the recipe mainly in half (see below).  Changes I would make the next time is to either cut the potatoes up a little smaller or if I had an immersible blender - do a quick blend afer the potates are cooked.  I also didn't like the bacon on top of the soup.  Just made it a little too rich and salty.  I just felt like it didn't really need it.  However, I would omit it due to the flavor the fat gives.  Next time, I'll just cook up the bacon like normal, then put it in the fridge or freezer for breakfast the next day or to use in another dish (mmmm like maybe stuffed potatoes...).

Here's the changes to the ingredients I did:

8 ounces bacon, chopped (kept the same)
1/4 cup good olive oil (???? didn't really measure it out....I think it was about the same)
6 cups 3 cups chopped yellow onions (4 2 large onions)
4  2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup 1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt (eyeball it)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (eyeball it)
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric Omitted altogether.  More for color than taste and I wasn't going to buy an entire jar for less than a teaspoon.
12 cups 5 cups chicken stock (could even do 4 cups)
6 cups 2-3 cups medium-diced white boiling potatoes, unpeeled
10 cups corn kernels, fresh (10 ears) or frozen (3 pounds) 1 lb frozen corn
2 cups 1 cup half-and-half
8 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese, grated (kept the same)