Tomato soup of any kind is particularly good with a grilled cheese sandwich, but as a kid it was once served to me in a large warming dish with hotdogs floating in it. Whole ones. Our babysitter that summer was a teenager with younger siblings and a father who was out of work at the local paper mill (by way of either a shutdown or a union strike), so when we ate lunch at her house there were a lot of people around the table. I can’t imagine how many cans of Campbell’s went towards that effort, or of what size, but it made an impression. I don’t remember her mother being present, and it occurs to me now that her salary and that of my teenage babysitter was keeping the family afloat that sunny summer day. To my surprise, the concoction simply tasted like hotdogs and tomato soup, individual items served in one dish.

I really liked that babysitter. She had her driver’s license and access to a car, and a membership to one of those music subscription services where you placed orders by writing tiny numbered codes onto a postcard and mailing it in. She had accidentally ordered an En Vogue tape when she meant to order Vogue, and this qualified as a very exciting mistake, worthy of much discussion. She had a chatty friend with red hair whose boyfriend was about to be deployed, and to think now that they were all about 17 that summer is an odd realization.

These days, I listen to a lot of podcasts in the car, and I’ve been enjoying the Splendid Table a lot lately. I recently caught Lynne Rosetto Kasper interviewing Tom Douglas, a (many times James Beard award-winning) chef from Seattle. They were talking about a delicious and simple tomato soup, cooking through the conversation. Intrigued, I looked up the recipe, and it is a keeper. The beauty of it, really, is that with a very little bit of planning (you need cream and two 28 oz cans of whole tomatoes), a well stocked cabinet (onions and garlic, a dash of celery seed), and about 20 minutes, this recipe can be made any time. My friend Brooke enjoyed it enough at my house to make it herself the following week, and she reports back that it was a success. I suggest using an immersion blender, if you have one. Floating hotdogs, optional.

Photo, my own.