fannie & millie .: handcrafted goodness

roasted tomato & garlic soup

I was asked to share this recipe. I don’t use one, so I’m just going to give a step-by-step explanation. It’s super easy, and tastes like end-of-summer tomato heaven.

ingredients:

• tomatoes - lots - cut into big chunks
• garlic - as much as you want - peeled
• extra virgin olive oil
• onions - peeled and diced
• vegetable broth - if I don’t have homemade, I use “Better Than Bouillon” - caution - it has a tiny bit of partially hydrogenated soybean oil. As a rule, we don’t eat hydrogenated oil, but I make an exception for this product. It’s good and a little goes a long way.
• water
• rosemary
• basil
• sea salt
• fresh ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Place tomatoes and garlic in a large roasting pan with high sides - I use a jumbo lasagna pan. drizzle a generous amount of the olive oil on top and then sprinkle with sea salt. Stir everything thoroughly and place in the oven.
3. Check and stir occasionally. Remove pan when tomatoes are very soft - about 40 minutes to 1hour. If you’re lucky, there will be a little charring at the edges. The charring adds to the roasted flavor of the tomatoes.
4. Meanwhile (I do this when the tomatoes are nearly done), use a big stockpot to sauté the diced onions in a bit of the olive oil. A touch of sea salt may also be added here; just be miserly with the salt at this point. Sometimes broth is salty and you don’t want to overpower the sweetness of the tomatoes.
5. Transfer the tomatoes to the stockpot of onions and stir. transfer the stockpot ingredients to a blender or food processor and puree with the pulse feature until you have a rough puree - I like this soup very rustic and not too smooth. Return to the pot. Alternatively, use a stick blender in the stockpot to puree the tomatoes and onions; this is my favorite method as it’s neat and cuts down on things to wash. Unfortunately, my stick blender is broken.
6. Look at the soup and add water if needed.
7. Taste the soup and add the following ingredients to taste: vegetable stock (use just enough for richness - be careful not to use enough to make the soup taste of mixed vegetables - the tomatoes are the star - I only used a couple of teaspoons for about 5 quarts of soup) sea salt, black pepper and herbs - basil and rosemary. If using fresh herbs, add them when you are ready to serve. I used dry, so I added them at this point. I used a very generous amount of basil and a very small, supporting amount of rosemary. Feel free to add whatever you like.
8. Let the soup simmer for at least 10 minutes before serving - longer is better, but we get impatient. If you have extraordinary willpower, put the soup away at this point and eat it tomorrow.  It’s even better the next day.

I like to serve this with some rustic whole grain bread and a nice cheese.

If you don’t care for the seeds and skin, you may use a food mill instead of a blender. I like the seeds and skin, so I leave them; but if you use the food mill, you can add cream to the soup just before serving (don’t let it boil) for a yummy cream of tomato soup.

enjoy! Let me know if anything isn’t clear.