Pixelapproved!

Some meals are here to impress. Others are here to save the day without turning your kitchen into a crime scene. Sultan’s Cream somehow manages to do both, which is slightly annoying, but very useful.

Tomato soup is one of my favourite quick meals, especially with crusty sourdough bread, proper butter, and old Dutch cheese on the side. Sharp, salty, creamy, crunchy. Simple food, but with standards. My favourite kind.

And for me, the absolute best tomato soup is Sultan’s Cream.

It is rich, smooth, and deeply tomato forward, with cream to soften the acidity and gin to give it that unmistakable grown up edge. Ideally, the gin is flambéed, because sometimes dinner needs a little theatre. Not too much. We are making soup, not applying for insurance fraud.

The good thing is that you do not even need fresh produce to make it well. Of course, if you can get your hands on very ripe San Marzano tomatoes and make a proper concassée, that is glorious. Soft, sweet, sun ripened tomatoes will always be hard to beat.

But since very ripe San Marzano tomatoes are not exactly lounging around in every Dutch supermarket, I feel no guilt whatsoever about using good canned tomatoes. Mutti is usually my go to. Reliable, full flavoured, and much less disappointing than pretending the average Dutch tomato is going to carry a soup by sheer optimism.

Dutch tomatoes are often nicknamed water bombs for a reason. They can look perfect. Round, glossy, bright red, very photogenic. Then you bite into one and get the culinary equivalent of wet cardboard with ambitions. Even in summer, they often lack the sweetness and depth you want for a proper tomato soup.

So yes, canned tomatoes. Happily. Without shame. Without apology. Without a tiny Italian grandmother appearing in the corner of the kitchen to judge me. At least, not yet.

This recipe serves two people generously, especially with bread and cheese on the side.

Ingredients for 2 persons

400 g good canned tomatoes, preferably Mutti
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon tomato paste
250 ml vegetable stock or chicken stock
50 ml gin
100 ml cream
1 small teaspoon sugar, optional, depending on the tomatoes
Salt and black pepper
A small pinch of mild paprika or Aleppo pepper, optional
Fresh basil, parsley, or a little dried oregano, optional

To serve

Crusty sourdough bread
Good butter
Old Dutch cheese, sliced or shaved

Method

1. Warm the olive oil and butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add the onion and cook until soft and translucent. Do not rush this part. Onion needs a moment to become useful.
3. Add the garlic and tomato paste. Stir for about one minute, until the tomato paste darkens slightly and starts to smell richer.
4. Add the gin. For the proper Sultan’s Cream effect, flambé it carefully. Remove the pan from the heat before adding the gin, then return it to low heat and ignite with a long lighter. Let the flames die down completely before continuing. Keep your face, hair, sleeves, curtains, pets, and questionable life choices away from the pan.
5. Add the canned tomatoes and stock. Stir well, then bring the soup to a gentle simmer.
6. Let it simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the flavours have deepened and the onion is completely soft.
7. Blend the soup until smooth. Use a stick blender directly in the pan, or transfer it carefully to a blender.
8. Stir in the cream and warm the soup through. Do not let it boil hard after adding the cream.
9. Taste and adjust with salt, pepper, and a little sugar if the tomatoes are too sharp. Add paprika, Aleppo pepper, basil, parsley, or oregano if you like.
10. Serve hot with sourdough, butter, and old Dutch cheese.

The gin gives the soup a subtle aromatic lift. It does not turn the soup into a cocktail, thankfully, because that would be a personality problem. Instead, it adds depth and a faint botanical note that works beautifully with tomato and cream.

The sourdough matters too. I want a crust that fights back a little, with butter melting into the crumb before it meets the soup. Add slices of old Dutch cheese on the side and suddenly this simple bowl becomes a full meal with a backbone.

And yes, grilled cheese is also a very viable option. I would never disrespect melted cheese like that.

A huge shout out to Lucas Lameth for creating this delicious pixel tomato soup. It looks comforting enough to make me consider whether my avatar has better lunch options than I do, which is a frankly rude development.

For the look, I am keeping things casual, easy, and very much in line with the soup mood. I am wearing Boys to the Bone Amyl Capris with the Tres Blah Crew Neck Tee, finished with Yummy’s Alicia hoops, which remain one of my all time favourites. Some pieces just earn their permanent place. The rest of my inventory can take notes.

Beauty wise, I am wearing Tres Beau Angelic skin, a gacha from The Arcade, with Exile’s Never The Same hair, available at Hair Fair 2026. My lipstick is Alaskametro’s Pinup, out at Vintage Fair, and the sparkle comes from ALBA’s Prism Glitter eyeshadow, available at this month’s Anthem. The glasses are by SKN, named Rayban, and were dug up from the depths of my inventory, where apparently useful things still live among the chaos.

So yeah, I love Sultan’s Cream.

It is pantry friendly, comforting, and just theatrical enough to make you feel like you did something. No guilt over canned tomatoes. No moral purity test from fresh produce. Just a beautiful tomato soup with cream, gin, bread, butter, cheese, and a look casual enough to eat in, but cute enough to blog.

Today, the soup gets top billing.

The outfit was smart enough to show up anyway.

XO, Graz