When Life Gives You Tomatoes, Make Tomato Soup

I thought about making homemade tomato juice, but when I stumbled upon Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen’s Roasted Tomato Soup, I remembered there are no coincidences.

More than being just simple, this recipe was one where I could likely use every single one of the remaining 40 tomatoes. Plus, the soup calls for vegetable stock and requires no milk or cream, unless you want to add it.

I’ve got to confess…I have never been a fan of tomato soup. It wasn’t part of my childhood culinary scene, but my college roommate could (and would) open a can of Campbell’s tomato soup, heat it up in the microwave and be absolutely content. Me, not in a million years.

Like my roomie, David loves, loves, loves tomato soup. Out of a can. We never buy it, but he talks about “tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich” quite frequently and with such a deep and profound love, making it almost sad that I have never indulged him by making it for him.

Anyone else want to make tomato soup at home?

For the record, David said this was the best tomato soup he has ever had.

Buen provecho!

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Roasted Tomato Soup

This soup is for the gardener who has tomatoes coming out his or her ears, or the lucky person who has a friend or neighbor who is successfully growing too many tomatoes. Or, perhaps, someone like me, who is lucky enough to have farmers as friends...farmers who need to off-load a box of tomato "seconds" onto someone who will love their tomatoes as much as they do.

Course Soup

Cuisine American

Keyword tomato soup

Author The Cowgirl Gourmet mildly adapted this recipe from the Steamy Kitchen

Ingredients

• 40 small to medium tomatoes cut in half or quarters, depending on how soft they are (cut soft tomatoes in half and not-so-soft ones in quarters)
• 1 jalapeno stemmed, cut in half lengthwise and then seeded
• 2 red bell peppers seeded, cut into 4 pieces
• olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese plus additional cheese for garnishing
• heavy cream or creme fraiche  (I add just a splash of cream to each individual bowl) optional
• croutons optional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Arrange all vegetables on baking sheet(s) and drizzle olive oil all over and toss to coat. Place in oven and roast for 30-40 minutes.

   

3. When the vegetables have roasted, place them (and any juice that remains on the sheet pan) in a blender (Vita-Mix or standard blender) with the seasoning and broth and blend until smooth. In a Vita-Mix, you would set it for "soup." You could also put everything in a soup pot, like I did, and use an immersion blender to puree it all together.

   

4. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. If using a blender, pour into a pot and heat to serve. If using cream, rather than add it to the entire pot of soup, I prefer to add a splash to each bowl.

5. Garnish with additional parm and a few grinds of fresh black pepper and sprinkle with a few croutons. Serve with crusty bread and a salad. Or a perfectly grilled cheese.