GORDON RAMSAY RECIPES INGREDIENTS: Cafe Zupas

My husband and I were recently invited to a Cafe Zupas Grand Opening event here in Utah and I thought this would be a fantastic time to review one of my favorite restaurants.

Here’s my disclaimer: I’m a mom. I am on a budget. Once upon a time my husband and I went to restaurants that didn’t have a Play Place but 4.7 children later, those days are long gone. That being said, when we do have the rare chance to go out by ourselves, we tend to not gravitate to the 5 star restaurants where you have to dress up and Google words from the menu to know what they are. You with me?

Get the Dr. Vanilla Berry. YUM.

That being said, let me introduce you to Cafe Zupas if you haven’t already had the privilege of eating there! We like fresh, creative food that is delicious and doesn’t break the bank. Cafe Zupas fits the bill perfectly. They offer soup, salads and sandwiches that are made right before your eyes. It’s the small things that seem to impress me at Cafe Zupas~ the fact that they use Muenster cheese on their sandwiches {my favorite!}, the free freshly baked bread and chocolate covered strawberries with every meal and the Italian soda shots at the drink counter.

The desserts are incredible~ I honestly spend more time deciding which dessert I’ll get than I do deciding my dinner. Don’t ask me my favorite- I love them all equally. So good!

Here was our dinner this last time we went: mushroom bisque soup, chicken chop salad, shanghai chicken salad and the California turkey sandwich. Our desserts were the salted caramel creme brulee and a rocky road brownie.

What a good sport my hubby was!

You know that soup must be incredible if a 7-month pregnant woman is willing {and excited} to eat it in 100-degree weather! It really is delicious. So delicious in fact that I tend to make copy-cat recipes and post them here on this blog… like the Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup one. Mmmm…

If you live in Utah, Arizona or Nevada, check out the full Cafe Zupas menu here and find a location near you to try it out!

If you don’t, you should head on over to the Cafe Zupas blog where they post tons of great recipes!

**Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. Cafe Zupas offered my husband and I a free meal at their newest location here in Utah because I also blog over at www.UtahDealDiva.com. Nothing was expected in exchange for the free meal, but it’s once of my favorite places to eat, so I opted to post here anyways. It’s really so good~ if you have one near you, make plans to eat there soon!

If you haven’t ordered the Tomato Basil Soup from Cafe Zupas, you’re seriously missing out! It’s so much more than just tomato soup. It’s got a light texture and the flavor has so much depth. It’s so good I’ll even eat it in the middle of summer. When it’s 100+ degrees outside. And I’m pregnant. That should tell you just how amazing it is!

I scoured the internet trying to find a recipe that sounded similar and failed. Then I came across another Zupas copycat recipe, but it needed a lot of work- I read it and had so many questions! (That and it made about 32 gallons of soup!) So I got to work and came up with this recipe, which is a much easier and smaller version. I hope you’ll try it- serve it with grilled cheese on a cool Fall day. Yum.

Tomato Basil Soup {Cafe Zupas Copycat Version}

Adapted from It’s The Life’s Recipe here

1 1/4 cup Pesto sauce {see recipe below if you want to make your own. Costco’s is delish!}
5 1/2 cups diced/ stewed tomatoes – three 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup diced onion
2 stalks celery, sliced
3/4 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp sugar (cuts down on acidity)
1 1/3 cup cream or 1 12-oz can evaporated milk

My garden is exploding with tomatoes, so I used fresh. This is not a fast way to make this soup, however! If you do want to use fresh, you’ll need to peel and slice them properly. I show you how to do this step-by-step here, when I give my marinara sauce recipe.

Pesto Sauce Recipe~ blend together until smooth:

2/3 cup fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
3/4 tsp salt

Directions:

Set crockpot on high so that it can begin warming up while you assemble the soup. If you don’t want to use a crockpot, feel free to use a saucepan instead.

Wash and slice vegetables.

In a frying pan (or just use the saucepan if you’re not using a crockpot) melt butter over medium-high heat.

Add in onion and celery. Cook until vegetables soften, about 5-8 minutes.

Transfer to the crockpot and add in all remaining ingredients, except the cream. At this point the soup doesn’t look very pretty. Don’t worry- it will cook down and all the veggies will meld together. Soon your house will smell amazing!

Crockpot: Cook on high 6-7 hours total

Saucepan on stove: Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to low. Simmer for about 2 hours total.

After soup has cooked for most of the time, I then use an immersion blender to get rid of the remaining chunks of vegetables. Cafe Zupas’ soup is served with some pieces of veggies, but I prefer to blend mine smooth. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can transfer the soup a few cups at a time to your regular blender. I’ve done this before- it’s not as daunting as it sounds!

After it’s smooth, return to pot and cook for the remaining time~ I generally blend it about an hour before serving. Just before serving add the cream or milk.

Top with fresh Parmesan cheese and ENJOY!

Soup doesn’t look very pretty at this point, huh?! Don’t worry…

Blend it until smooth and it turns a lovely reddish orange color.

Chef Gordon Ramsay Recipes

Tag: Cafe Zupas

RESTAURANT REVIEW: CAFE ZUPAS {the only place I’ll willingly eat soup in 100+ degree weather}

TOMATO BASIL SOUP {CAFE ZUPAS COPYCAT RECIPE!}