First Tomato Soup
It is the end of August of 2012 and the first year of the past 3 that we've had a proper summer that wasn't delayed 4 weeks by rain. This means we finally have a really good tomato crop.
I mean, a good RED tomato crop. Like you, I've got a 10-year supply of green tomato chutney.
I love tomato soup. And there are many ways to make it, but I like this way. A few things about this recipe make it my favorite. One is the roasting. Roasting the tomatoes really concentrates their flavor. You can do it with any tomato... slicing, paste or cherry tomato. I like to roast them with salt, garlic and olive oil. You can put herbs on them too, but I don't usually. The reason being is that I sometimes roast 2-3 times more than I need right away. The rest, I freeze in bags to use later. These roasted toms take up very little freezer space and add intense flavor to a soup or sauce. The other part of this recipe is the thickener. Bread. I think I read this trick in a Cook's Illustrated magazine. It's such a mag for cooking eggheads, I love it. I've used flour to make a roux, but it's really hit and miss. Adding some torn up pieces of bread to the soup gives it body without tasting floury. If you're going gluten-free (and who isn't?), you could try adding a 1/4 cup of cubed potato, some left-over mashed potato or even mix up some arrowroot with your cold chicken stock before adding it.
The quantities are not so important. I've made some of my best cream soups with just a little bit of vegetable, good stock and a lot of cream. But when the vegetables shine, you can back off the cream to keep the flavors bold. I hope you like this.
Ingredients
Roasting tomatoes:
Slice your tomatoes in half. Sprinkle with salt and toss generously with olive oil. Roast them in an oven at 375F for 30-45 minutes or until they start to shrivel and turn color. Remove and set aside until you are done with them. If freezing, let cool to touch, bag and freeze.
The soup:
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt 1 Tbls butter or olive oil and saute one chopped onion or leek. Be sure to add 1/4 tsp salt to the onion while it cooks to help it break down completely. After it starts to change color (after 2-3 minutes), you can turn the heat right down to low, cover it and let it sweat for 5 minutes so it's soft, but not brown.
To your soft onions, add your roasted tomatoes and garlic. This should have almost enough salt in it for your soup until you test it at the end. To this, add 1-2 cups of liquid (chicken stock and water) and a slice of bread torn up into pieces to thicken it. Cover and bring this to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 5-15 minutes, until everything is soft enough to puree.
Finally, add 1/4-1/2 cup of cream, milk or half and half along with some fresh basil. Heat to warm and puree. I use a hand blender (immersion blender) for this, but you can use a regular blender. A hand blender may sound like just another kitchen tool, but I find mine so useful. I use it for smoothies, tahini sauce and to make pureed vegetable soups a few times every week. Once it's all blended, taste it for salt. If it tastes watery or just bland, don't be shy about salt. Soup needs a lot of it.
I mean, a good RED tomato crop. Like you, I've got a 10-year supply of green tomato chutney.
I love tomato soup. And there are many ways to make it, but I like this way. A few things about this recipe make it my favorite. One is the roasting. Roasting the tomatoes really concentrates their flavor. You can do it with any tomato... slicing, paste or cherry tomato. I like to roast them with salt, garlic and olive oil. You can put herbs on them too, but I don't usually. The reason being is that I sometimes roast 2-3 times more than I need right away. The rest, I freeze in bags to use later. These roasted toms take up very little freezer space and add intense flavor to a soup or sauce. The other part of this recipe is the thickener. Bread. I think I read this trick in a Cook's Illustrated magazine. It's such a mag for cooking eggheads, I love it. I've used flour to make a roux, but it's really hit and miss. Adding some torn up pieces of bread to the soup gives it body without tasting floury. If you're going gluten-free (and who isn't?), you could try adding a 1/4 cup of cubed potato, some left-over mashed potato or even mix up some arrowroot with your cold chicken stock before adding it.
The quantities are not so important. I've made some of my best cream soups with just a little bit of vegetable, good stock and a lot of cream. But when the vegetables shine, you can back off the cream to keep the flavors bold. I hope you like this.
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- salt
- a bunch of ripe tomatoes
- a few cloves of garlic
- an onion or leek
- chicken stock
- water
- creme
- basil
Roasting tomatoes:
Slice your tomatoes in half. Sprinkle with salt and toss generously with olive oil. Roast them in an oven at 375F for 30-45 minutes or until they start to shrivel and turn color. Remove and set aside until you are done with them. If freezing, let cool to touch, bag and freeze.
 |
| Before |
 |
| After roasting. You can bag up and freeze these for later, or use them now. |
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt 1 Tbls butter or olive oil and saute one chopped onion or leek. Be sure to add 1/4 tsp salt to the onion while it cooks to help it break down completely. After it starts to change color (after 2-3 minutes), you can turn the heat right down to low, cover it and let it sweat for 5 minutes so it's soft, but not brown.
To your soft onions, add your roasted tomatoes and garlic. This should have almost enough salt in it for your soup until you test it at the end. To this, add 1-2 cups of liquid (chicken stock and water) and a slice of bread torn up into pieces to thicken it. Cover and bring this to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 5-15 minutes, until everything is soft enough to puree.
Finally, add 1/4-1/2 cup of cream, milk or half and half along with some fresh basil. Heat to warm and puree. I use a hand blender (immersion blender) for this, but you can use a regular blender. A hand blender may sound like just another kitchen tool, but I find mine so useful. I use it for smoothies, tahini sauce and to make pureed vegetable soups a few times every week. Once it's all blended, taste it for salt. If it tastes watery or just bland, don't be shy about salt. Soup needs a lot of it.
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