Tomato Soup

Think your homemade in brackets says it all Al, very few soups to be found in supermarkets around here in Marche, people tend to make their own, and whilst Heinz baked beans might make people long for comfort food the thought of Heinz tomato soup probably sets them running for the stock pot!....biased I know just have awful memories of having it for lunch as a child ....every Saturday.....boh!....for years!

"very few soups to be found in supermarkets around here in Marche" Up around Lakes Orta & Maggiore there appear to be numerous packets of soups - mainly minestrone, vegetable and lentil/bean/pulses - there must have been 20+ varieties on the shelves - but no tomato

Hi,   I make a quick soup,    Liquidise 2 tins of tomatoes and around 8 sun dreid tomatoes, plus a little veg stock plus some fried diced onion. very quick and easy and tastes just like heinz.

Surely a small handful of roughly chopped Basil added a couple of minutes before serving would add to the flavour?

I have also noticed it. No tomato soup tins or dehydrated sachets for sale not only in Italy, but also in Spain. I have to make my own or buy some in France (fortunately, I am only 30 km away from the Spanish/French border. Plenty of other soup varieties available in Italy and some of them are excellent. Many of the "minestrone" variety with beans, "orzo" and also "funghi porcini" creams, quite decent; however, no tomato soup. On the other hand, there is a traditional Tuscan recipe for tomato soup, called PAPPA AL POMODORO (Tomato soup with fried bread) INGREDIENTS: 4 tablespoons olive oil 1 onion (chopped) 3 garlic cloves (minced) 750 g tomatoes, peeled and cut into pieces, or, if you are in a hurry use a couple of cans of tomato purée 1 litre chicken stock salt and pepper to taste 250 g day old Tuscan bread, cut into cubes and fried in some hot olive oil basil leaves chopped PREPARATION Heat the oil and cook the garlic and onion until transparent. Add the tomatoes and cook for some 5 minutes. Add the stock, adjust the salt and pepper and cook for a further 30 minutes. (If you are using tinned tomatoes, you can increase the flavour by adding some dried tomatoes as suggested by Gail. You can also reduce the cooking time) Serve with the bread cubes and sprinkle with chopped basil. At the "Trattoria Bordino" near the Ponte Vecchio in Florence they serve an excellent "Pappa al Pomodoro"  

I love home made soup and had some tomato and coriander in work the other day. However on a miserable rainy winter Sunday in Wales you can't wack a bowl of Heinz tinned tomato soup with some freshly ground black pepper and bread to dip in for lunch - good comfort food!

I must say Heinz Tomato soup was never a favourite of mine, but if I wanted a tomato soup here in Italy I guess I would start with 500ml of passata (about 40c, though probably a no-name could come in at 20c and be just as good) - then, maybe to achieve the glutinous Heinz "mouth feel" I might experiment with a bit of amido di mais (cornflour), or even (if tending to the Nigella school) throw in some panna da cucina. Heinz use sugar in everything, so maybe you'd want to add a bit of that, and surely a fair pinch of salt! However, to be rather stylish, you could make a "bloody mary" granata or sorbet, which involves an ice cream making machine, vodka, and fresh tomato juice. Now that really gets your guests in the mood as a starter! It must  be the 48th variety....

I agree, Cornflour is the secret ingredient that gives those soups the glutinous texture. It is used in many types of soups and sauces. I love to add sour cream and chives to my tomato soup. In agreement with Helens, soup is the best comfort soup, particularly in winter, although there are some excellent cold soups for summer. They all make a meal in itself, particularly if you add some extras to them. I particularly like the traditional fish and seafood soup from Livorno called "cacciucco"-

I tried carefully recipe from Gala Placidia. It has not a good taste.  I dont know why.

What could go wrong with Gala's recipe - looks good to me, must give it a try! I  will report back!

Gala - in your recipe, did you mean "Tomato Puree" - or "canned tomatoes/passata"?  I thought puree might be a rather too strong flavour   Found this on the 'Splutterer's website'  http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegeterian-recipes/bread-tomato-soup-pappa-al-pomodoro

Sorry, I should have used the Italian word "passata" as "purée" is sometimes used to describe the concentrate. And you are right, the flavour would be too strong. This may have happened to Esme. My apologies. I tend to avoid the tomato concetrate as I find it too acidic. Tinned tomatoes can also be used. Tomatoes are rather tricky. During their peak season the flavour is superb and I would use fresh tomatoes; however, particularly in winter, some do not have much flavour and the passata or canned variety would be more advisable. I had not seen before the Jamie Oliver recipe. It sounds excellent. Thank you.

OK I understand now.  You mean Passata. I was to think it was a new recipe for English soup.

Hi, Going back to the original post... I have bought tins of Heinz soup at Cityper at Piediripa (Macerata). Perhaps other stores in Italy will stock it too?  

Perhaps some local stores that have a high percentage of British clientele....

yes, no tomato soup in Italy... we have la pappa al pomodoro: http://ricette.giallozafferano.it/Pappa-col-pomodoro.html I love it, my mum used to make it when I was a child... Paola

http://www.dimmidisi.it/it/i_prodotti/zuppe_e_brodi/zuppe_monoporzioni/vellutata_di_pomodoro/ http://www.palatifini.it/it/minestre-zuppe-vellutate/2493-vellutata-di-pomodoro-350-gr.html

The southern italian attitude to soup:"The Prince was too experienced to offer Sicilian guests...a dinner beginning with soup. But rumours of the barbaric foreign usage of serving an insipid  liquid  as a first course had reached the notables of Donnafuga too insistantly for them not to quiver with a slight residue of alarm at the start of a solemn dinner such as this."  The Leopard - Tomasi di LampedusaAnd that's still the attitude round here in Basilicata, so it's very hard to find any soup in the shops.:)