Tasty! I broiled eight tomatoes for 20 minutes and charred the skin to peel off easily. Used 1/2 V8 and 1/2 tomato juice. Sautedd garlic and onions and put all in the blender..simmered 1/2 hour and then added only 1/4 cup butter and half & half. Pinch of sugar at the end and parmesean on top of each bowl. DELISH!

Good bye Campbell's! I raided my herb garden and, in addition to the 14 basil leaves, decided to put in a few sprigs of summer savory, some cinnamon basil, and some fresh oregano. WOW. This soup was vibrant, creamy and altogether AMAZING. Served up with an Italian salad and some crusty bread it made a delectable summer dinner....I just have to run an extra mile in the morning....

I love this soup!!!! My family does too! I use fresh tomatoes from my garden. I run them through my KitchenAide strainer, and go from there. Fresh basil is always best, but you can use dried basil. I always start my soups with a roux (butter and flour) my family prefer to have a thicker soup and this always does the trick.

Wonderful tomato soup!Very fresh tasting and rich. This recipe is almost identical to "La Madeleine's" recipe which ran in a Fort Worth,Texas newspaper several years ago. It stated to use 4 cups chopped tomatoes, 1/4 tsp. cracked black pepper, and listed lemon juice as optional. I used 4 large tomatoes which gave me the 4 cups I needed.I also added 1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper and just a touch of lemon juice.Perfect!!!Thank you for sharing the recipe!

Oh yum--this is just like the soup at a certain French-cafe-style chain (that we don't have here in North Carolina and I miss from my DC days). I used canned tomatoes and frozen basil cubes and it came out wonderfully.

We really enjoyed this! I used Thai basil which gave it a nice zing, and only 1/4c of butter. It was rich and creamy and delicious.

Loved it! I used italian style diced tomatoes, real good

My family loved this soup...we NEVER have leftovers!!! I usually work late...and this is so easy and quick to make!!! I used "organic" tomato juice and Hunts peeled diced tomatoes and kept every thing else the same. It was great with grilled cheese sandwiches!!! Busy working Mom's this is a slam dunk buzzer beater!!!

I will peel the tomatoes next time... I added some honey to make it sweeter. I served with chicken.

It tasted good - but I don't care too much for it.

I followed the recipe to the tee. It was good, but it lacked in tomato flavor. Next time I will try sauteing the tomatoes in olive oil first, or maybe adding some sundried tomatoes.

I dont know what i did, but the soup came out to sweet to eat. we dipped our sandwitchs in it, but could not eat it. and I forgot the sugar. I just gave it 4 stars because i think it was my fault since everyone else didnt have any of the same type of comments.

Since fresh tomatoes were out of season I substituted a 28oz can of whole tomatoes. I also diced and sauted one small onion and three cloves of garlic in olive oil prior to adding the the tomatoes and juice. I did use less butter and more basil. This soup tastes so good.

This soup is the best tomato soup I have ever tasted. Be sure to use nice tomatoes (I use vine-ripened tomatoes). The fresh basil gives this soup its wonderful flavor. If you love basil you will love this soup. I pureed about 1/2 of the soup instead of all of it, which was perfect. I read other reviews and reduced the butter to 1/4 cup and the cream to 1/2 cup. Thank you for the recipe, it is 100 times better than anything you get in a can.

What an incredible recipe! I ate this as soup, but it would also be wonderful as a sauce over pasta or chicken. This is just as good as any restaurant soup, if not better. Edit--I finally experimented with using this soup as a sauce over chicken and pasta and it worked out wonderfully. The difference between using fresh vs. canned tomatoes is negligable compared to the amount of work that goes into peeling and seeding the fresh ones. I bought canned, whole, skinless tomatoes the last time I made it and they were fine.

Perfect the way it is.. i added a bit too much basil to it. But my boyfriend is not a soup lover and request that i make this a agian.. which is amazing. He normally hates soup.