After stocking my pantry with most of what Mark suggested in the beginning of the book, I found myself coming home on a cold day desperately looking in my pantry for soup. The opening line in the recipe referring to the deep dark days of January were very appropriate, as was the soup! Hearty and flavorful, this is definitely one I will reach for again on another cold day.
For the recipe, I used the dried tomatoes and the canned and although the dried were pricey, they were well worth it! The dried tomatoes really enhance the flavors of the soup and make you forget you're eating canned tomatoes - something I'm usually not a fan of. Although I planned on using the leftovers in the Elegant variation - which puts your chunky soup into a blender and adds cream - every night the smell of the original had me coming back for more! This is definitely a hearty soup you could add beans or meat to if you needed some more protein.
HTCE p. 130
HTCEV p.113-114
