Tomato Florentine Soup
Tomato Florentine Soup is a hearty and flavorful soup that's perfect for a cold winter day. It's made with a combination of chicken broth, tomatoes, tomato juice, and tomato soup, and it's seasoned with sugar, spinach, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
Tomato Florentine Soup is a hearty and flavorful soup that's perfect for a cold winter day. It's made with a combination of chicken broth, tomatoes, tomato juice, and tomato soup, and it's seasoned with sugar, spinach, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- salt to taste
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
- ground black pepper to taste
- 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can chopped stewed tomatoes
- 1 (12 fluid ounce) can tomato-vegetable juice cocktail
- 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
- 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
- 1/2 cup cooked macaroni
- Carbohydrate 43.1618775 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 1.1447125 g
- Fiber 2.09969994449615 g
- Protein 6.52301 g
- Saturated Fat 0.269435 g
- Serving Size 1 1 recipe (130g)
- Sodium 3489.428 mg
- Sugar 41.0621775555038 g
- Trans Fat 0.35932 g
- Calories 211 calories
Step-by-step
- Combine broth, tomatoes, juice, and soup in a saucepan with a wire whisk over medium heat. Add sugar, spinach, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste, without thawing spinach. Allow to heat gently 20 minutes on medium-low until spinach is tender. Keep hot without letting it boil.
- Add cooked pasta and cook for 10 minutes longer.
Heat Management Without Equipment
Maintaining a gentle medium-low heat is critical when combining canned tomato bases and chicken broth, because thick tomato solids scorch rapidly on the bottom of a thin saucepan if the burner is set too high. Watch the liquid surface closely rather than relying on a thermometer; tiny bubbles should merely break the perimeter occasionally while the center remains nearly still, ensuring the frozen spinach thaws and softens without boiling the delicate tomato liquids down into a bitter paste. Vigorous boiling will destroy the bright volatile flavors of the canned vegetable juice cocktail and cause the tomato soup solids to separate from the broth.Integrating Greens and Pasta
Adding frozen chopped spinach directly to the warm pot without thawing saves prep time, but it introduces moisture that must be monitored as the greens slowly separate. Stir the mixture periodically with a wire whisk to break apart the frozen block uniformly, allowing the heat to penetrate the core until the leaves are completely tender after roughly twenty minutes. Cooked macaroni should be introduced during the final ten minutes of warming so it absorbs the seasoned broth without disintegrating into mush.Balancing Sugar and Acidity
Canned tomato products contain varying levels of natural acidity that can taste sharp, which is why a small quantity of white sugar is included to round out the flavor profile without making the broth genuinely sweet. Adjusting the salt and freshly ground black pepper alongside a single pinch of ground nutmeg requires tasting the liquid after the spinach has fully incorporated, because the concentrated canned components release their full sodium profile only after thorough heating. Proper seasoning acts as a bridge between the savory chicken broth and the sweet tomato base, harmonizing the disparate canned elements into a cohesive dish.
