Why is this a "winter" food, when tomatoes are in season in August? Makes no sense.
I guess I'm having a food themed week, this week. Which, is probably about time, because I have not been posting at all. I would say that I haven't had time, which is "technically" true. But at the same time, I am a stay-at-home mom with a 4 month-old. So seriously, I could juggle my schedule around and blog more. Because we all know that you are dying to read about us.
So I'll put aside my knitting and Catching Fire, and tell you about some food I've made.
Inspired by a friend's tomato soup recipe HERE, but not wanting to follow her recipe because I only had the things I had, I made my own version. I'm sure her's is especially delicious, and I want her to make it for me. But, mine is also delicious. Two different tomato soups. Like our friendship -we're pretty much the same in most ways, but just a bit different in the details. Right, Becky?
My tomato soup was of the "cook for hours and your kitchen is too hot for you" variety.
Tomato Soup
5 Roma tomatoes (blanched, peeled, and seeded)
4 cloves garlic (LEFT IN THEIR SKINS!)
1/2 onion chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
a handful of cherry tomatoes (not necessary, I just had them on hand)
2 tbs olive oil
3 tbs vegetable stock base or 3 bouillon cubes
Dried Herb Bouquet
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup milk
Heat your oil in a pot (I used an enamel cast iron) over medium and add your chopped onion. Stir and sautee for 5 minutes. Add your garlic cloves left in their skin wrappers, the handful of cherry tomatoes (ours were the size of peas, so I left them whole.) and your celery. Sautee those while you blanche your tomatoes.
Heat a pot of water on the stove to boiling. While you're waiting for it to boil, cut an X on the bottom of each tomato and prepare a bowl of ice water (3-4 cups water). When the water is boiling throw your tomatoes in for 10-30 seconds. Scoop out and into your ice water. Peel your tomatoes with your fingers (the skin will practically fall off) and cut in half cross-wise. Gently squeeze out the seeds and put the tomato back into the water. Repeat for remaining tomatoes.
Add your tomatoes to your onion, garlic and celery. And stir around a bit. No need to smush them. Put your tomato-y water in another stock pot and add your bouillon cubes or vegetable stock base. Bring to a boil.
Make your Herb Bouquet. I used: 1 bay leaf, 3 sage leaves, 1 sprig thyme, 1 sprig oregano, 6-10 basil leaves. I used our own dried herbs from our garden and I think it's best to leave them as whole as possible. If you do not have this option (duh) just add about 1/2 -1 tbs each of the dried herbs however much you like. IF you have them fresh: tie them in a bundle with a piece of string for easy removal. Add the herbs to your pot.
 |
| The dried herbs from our garden. Clockwise from top left: thai basil, purple italian basil, mint, dill, lavender, oregano, thyme, sage. |
Add the tomato-y vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Simmer on low-medium for 2-3 hours. Or for however long or short you want. The longer you cook the more complex the flavor will be. But it will be delicious either way.
Before you are ready to eat it, make your roux. Melt your 1 tbsp butter in a pan, add the 1 tbsp flour. Whisk together over medium heat for 2 minutes to cook it. This "cooking" of the roux, prevents a pasty flavor. Slowly whisk in about 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid from your pot. Then add your 1/2 cup milk, whisking all the time, until smooth and thick and creamy 2 minutes or so.
Before you add the roux, remove your herb bouquet if you used fresh herbs or you will find sticks in your soup. Remove the bay leaf. Find the garlic cloves and squeeze them out of their wrappers into the soup. Discard the skins. Add your roux. Simmer a few minutes together to really meld the flavors. And serve. You can smush up the tomatoes as much or as little as you like. You can use an immersion blender, or normal blender, or food processor, if you want it really smooth. I smashed up the big tomato pieces with a wooden spoon, but left the pea sized cherry tomatoes whole, for a varied texture.
I technically made this for dinner, but had to try some with my lunch. It took all my will power not to eat the entire pot. This amount of soup isn't very much, probably 4 adult sized servings. But the recipe is very easily doubled or quadrupled.
Happy Souping!
Bonus:
Photo of V
 |
| Why are you still reading this post and not already making your soup? |
No comments :
Post a Comment