Uh! This is so good! I have had my eyes on this for a while because it sounded interesting and today I finally made it. Absolutely delicious. I browned the bacon in a sauce pan then sauted the onion garlic and celery in the bacon juice. After this I followed the recipe exactly. I loved the way the apples smelled as they simmered in the red wine. This is definitely a nice complex soup and the flavours blend so well. It does come out thick and 'stewy' but I think that's how this soup should be. Thank you. I'll be making again and again.
I made this recipe out of the All Recipes cookbook "Dinner Tonight". If you don't have one of the All Recipes cookbook you're really missing some wonderful recipes. This one is my favorite. On to the soup: I was skeptical at first but as I prepared the recipe the aroma filled our home. My husband came inside and asked "What's that divine aroma?" It really is a deliciously different take on classic ingredients. I did a few things differently but not by much. Rather than discard the bacon grease I used it to saute' the onion and garlic. I puree'd the stewed tomatoes to give the soup a smooth consistency. I used dry sherry rather than red wine and I added 1 cup of half and half at the end to make it a creamy tomato soup. As you can tell this is not something you'll make every day. It is very very rich. But for special occasions it is wonderful. My husband loved it and so did our guests. I served it with smoky cheddar grilled cheese sandwiches. Wow! The variety of flavors will blow you away.
Good N Easy. Next time I will sauté the Celery with the onion and garlic so it's not quite so crunchy. Of course bacon flavors so many things wonderfully. But I think this would even be good without the bacon for a lot less fat. Love the apples cooked in wine. That gives me lots of ideas!
I am a cook at a local Casino resturant I am responsible for making fresh soup daily. This soup sold out within an hour of dinner service! not to mention we had soup thieves: general manager and floor mamnager supervisor and other staff actually eating the soup before the public really had a chance to eat it. But for the few customer who had a chance they loved it. The waitress' said that some of the customers were hestinatant because of the apple in the soup but were surpisingly happy when the eat it. I myself loved it! and make it every year for thanksgivving and christmas to shake thehunger pain when waiting for the turkey to be cooked. My family loves it too. I use half granny smith apples and half pink lady apples comes out perfect every time!
This recipe is absolutely wonderful! I would definitely double the recipe however as it served 6 women a cup-sized portion and we all WANTED MORE!!! It is better the second day.
This is a great hearty soup! Very layered and complex flavors yet pretty simple to make. The morning of meal I prepared the recipe up to the point of adding the apple/wine/bacon mixture into the soup. Then I combined everything in my slow cooker. About an hour before serving I plugged in the slow cooker and set it on low. Very good and very Italian-tasting!
This was a fabulous soup! I served it at a dinner party and everyone wanted the recipe. A bit time intensive but totally worth the effort.
This soup blends the best flavors for a wintry day. I used sherry in lieu of red wine and it worked fine. However I also recommend not draining the can of pinto beans because the added juice stretches the dish. Loved it madly!
This was definitely an odd combination. Actually I found this recipe by searching on the random ingredients I had left over from preparing a meal last week. It was actually very good -- though I left out the celery and substituted kidney beans for pinto. Unfortunately I boiled the apple in cooking wine and along with the bacon and beef stock this made for a slightly-too-salty soup. But I'd do it again (with unsalted wine!) for sure.
This was ok but not one of our favorites. I'm sure it's just a matter of taste but to us it reminded us of a slightly sweet minestrone. We all ate our servings but no one went back for seconds and no one wanted to save the leftovers. Thanks for sharing your recipe. I've been wanting to make this for quite some time and I'm glad I finally did. Try it for yourself.
