FrugalLocavore

Or “Tomato Soup and French Toast (Pain Perdu = Lost Bread) ~ Delicious!” to the rest of us.  Savory French toast in this case.

The wonderful thing about Soup Time of Year is that no hard and fast rules must be followed to create a delicious and healthy comfort food. 

Here’s what you’ll need (full recipe is at the bottom of the post):

• 1 – 2 Carrots, Diced
• 1 Medium Onion, Diced
• Celery, Small Stalk, Diced
• Chicken or Vegetable Stock (~16 oz.)
• Tomato Juice (~64 oz.) 
• 1 cup of milk
• Basil
• Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil
• Half a loaf of French or other sturdy bread
• 2-3 eggs
• 1/2 oz. cheese, like Swiss or Gruyere.  Or let’s face it:  Any cheese will do.

Start with the dicing and sauteing of the veggies:

(This batch is sans celery.  And the world will not end because of it.)  Saute the aromatics in a little olive oil in your soup-pan style pan of choice, until they get tender. Season with salt & peppa.

If you’ve got frozen chicken broth/stock or vegetable stock in your freezer, let’s get that warmed up.  Otherwise, make sure your canned/packaged broth/stock is handy:

Add the stock and tomato juice, cook it down, smooth it out:

Once the vegetables are tender, it is time for the Tomato Juice.  Lou had this juice from a recent canning expedition.  Canned juice will work, as will pureed canned tomatoes of any sort ~ home canned or store-bought.

No matter what your source of tomato juice/tomatoes, You are still producing a delicious soup that will be a nice departure from the Campbell’s version, minus the high fructose corn syrup and other multisyllabic ingredients.

Anyway, here we go.

Add the tomato juice and vegetable/chicken broth/stock to the sauce pan containing the vegetables:

Now cook it down for 20 minutes or so, until it is reduced by about half.

If you want a smooth soup, you can give it whirl with a stick blender, table top blender, or food processor.  You get the idea. 

Add milk.   Add basil, fresh or dried if you have it. 

Now it’s time for the bread!

You know how to make French Toast.  Lou used some of the soup in place of the milk and other ingredients.  We cooled the soup a little with ice cubes, you know, that tempering thing, before adding it to the eggs.

Flip ‘em if you got ‘em, I say:

Here’s that Pain Perdu, with Slivers of Swiss.  Yum!!!

Lou scrambled the rest of the eggs and dished them up.

Simple.  Delicious.  Food!

~CW

Homemade Tomato Soup:

• 1 – 2 Carrots, Diced
• 1 Medium Onion, Diced
• Celery, Small Stalk, Diced
• Chicken or Vegetable Stock (~16 oz.)
• Tomato Juice (~64 oz.)
• 1 cup of milk
• Basil
• Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil

Saute vegetables in olive oil until tender.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add stock/broth and tomato juice.  Bring to boil and reduce heat, stirring occasionally and cooking down until soup has reduced by about half.  If smooth consistency is desired, blend soup in batches in food processor, blender, or use stick blender.  Add basil.  Serve!

Pain Perdu (Lost Bread) / Savory French Bread:

• Half a loaf of French or other sturdy bread, sliced
• 2-3 eggs
• 1/2 oz. cheese, like Swiss or Gruyere.  Or let’s face it:  Any cheese will do.

Whisk eggs.

Temper a half cup or so of the soup, or cool the soup in a separate bowl.  Whisk into the eggs.  Proceed as if you were making sweet French toast.  Top with slivers of your favorite delicious cheese!