Here’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser that comes from an old cookbook I got from my mom. This soup makes a great, fast weeknight dinner or doubles as a starter.

Pantry cooking—my absolute favorite. Especially since I always have Boursin, diced tomatoes and a jar of pesto on hand.

You’ll put this on the table in no time. It doesn’t require complicated ingredients unless you want it to—you can tweak it to your hearts content—and you’ll get rave reviews.

 
Ingredients:

1 sweet onion
2 cans diced tomatoes (14 oz cans)
1 small can tomato paste
5 oz boursin
1 tsp dried Italian herbs
2 tbsp cream
1 vegetable bouillon cube
1 tbsp green pesto
1 can water
1 to 1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp black pepper
2/3 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil

 
Directions:

Chop the onion. This is about as hard as the recipe gets.

 
Like your soup heavy on garlic? Add some. Just keep in mind we’ll also add Boursin later on.
 

Heat a tbsp oil and sauté the onion for 4 to 5 minutes until translucent. Don’t let the onion brown!

Add the tomato paste and cook for a minute to sweeten it up.

Pour in the cans of diced tomatoes. Fill one of the cans with water and pour it in as well.

Season with the bouillon cube, sugar, Italians herbs and pepper. The sugar is merely used to neutralize the acidity.

 
Tip:  Health food stores sell MSG free bouillon cubes. At least in the Netherlands they do.
 

Bring to a boil, put the lid on and simmer for 15 minutes.

Use an immersion blender or a regular blender to smoothen the soup.

Pour the soup back into the pan.

Melt the Boursin into the soup.

Stir in a full tbsp green pesto. This will give a subtle flavor. Want a more intense flavor, just add more.

Add salt to taste (for me 2/3 tsp was enough) and stir in 2 to 3 tbsp cream as a finishing touch.

This is just the basic version. You can replace the dried herbs with fresh herbs. Add a splash of dry white wine.  A few drops balsamic also intensifies the flavors. Just play with the ingredients.

Garnish with fresh basil and serve with lots of crusty bread. Simple can be so delicious.