Green Apple Clog Blog: Simple 'Roasted Tomato' Soup

Well, in about four short hours... we will be doing..... this....... again.........

...because, yep.....it's canning time! Ughhhhh... I mean, yay. I don't love canning tomatoes, heck I don't even like doing the can-can the teensiest lil' bit BUT... I do love having home-canned tomatoes to cook with throughout the year so I can deal with the unfun work for a couple of days. Fortunately, this year we still have quite a few jars of both salsa and crushed peppers left from last years big can so we only need to replenish our crushed tomato supply which will make for an easier time. Still, ten bushels of tomatoes is no fun feat to sauce up, cook and can!

Anyhow, when we stopped by the vegetable truck from Southern Ontario (the Farmer drives up, sets up camp and stays for a few weeks with regular truck loads coming in to restock with fresh supply) I saw that he had the massive, beautiful Beefsteak Tomatoes in and couldn't resist a bushel of those, too... needless to say we have been eating pretty much nothing but tomatoes this week because they are seriously sooooo good! We've had tomato salads, fresh tomato salsa, toasted tomato sandwiches, stewed tomatoes over baked macaroni'n'cheese and I've been eating them for lunches just by the slice; it's not often we get the delicious farm-fresh tomatoes from a place with a much longer and better growing season than we get here with our own plantings so we are taking full advantage! Last night I made another tomato favourite of ours with the last of the Beefsteaks, tomato soup, and will freeze a couple of containers for future dinners so the goodness will last a little while longer. And, of course, since I like to share, I thought I would do just that since I haven't shared a recipe for a little while and I hope that you will love it and find it as comforting as we do if you ever decide to give it a try!

Roasted Tomato Soup

(makes 15 cups)

Ingredients:

7   lbs   Beefsteak Tomatoes (washed and quartered)
2 lbs   Onions (peeled and wedged)
2   Tbsp Garlic (minced)

5 cups    Vegetable Stock (or chicken stock if desired *we're just vegetarian these days*)
2   cups Water

1 3/4 tsp Salt
1/4   tsp Pepper
1/2   tsp Basil
1 Bay Leaf

Tomatoes'n'onions waiting to get all soupy together!

They appear small in the picture above so to prove there size, here sit a
Tomato and onion beside a 1 cup measure.

Normally I just use a bay leaf but didn't have any on hand so I just
used 1/4 tsp of bay leaf flakes instead.

Step one:

Place prepared tomatoes and onions on a large parchment-lined baking tray and roast in a 375° oven for around 40 minutes or until tomato skins are puckered and onions are toasted-looking.

Step two:

*This is kind of an optional step for the onions... Enz is fussy about onions so I cook them to soft enough for pureeing. You could totally leave the big onion chunks or chop them after roasting to leave little onion bites in the soup like I would given the choice.*

While tomatoes cool enough to handle, sauté the garlic and roasted onions in a splash of olive oil (I also added a couple of pats of butter into the sauté mixture but the butter is totally optional). Cook down until the onions are softened.

Step three:

Add to the pot enough broth to cover the onions and purée to smooth.

Step four:

Carefully peel skins from tomatoes.

Step five:

Add the roasted tomatoes, remaining stock, water and spices pot and simmer until tomatoes soften and fall apart and flavours meld... about an hour or so.

*I make my own stock which has a lot of vegetable pulp in it so you may want to use all stock instead of adding water if you are using a more watery stock. I will add my stock recipe below in case you would like to try making it.*

I had pulled out the dried basil because I thought we were totally out of the leaves
but then had a sudden remembering of the bag in the freezer that my pa-in-law had brought
for us from his garden last week so I used a handful of that instead of the dried flakes.

Step six:

The soup is actually basically done and ready when the tomatoes are cooked and broken up enough and I leave it as is but if you prefer a more blended tomato texture feel free to blend the tomatoes in before serving.

Enz and I both love this soup on its own but for an extra little crunchy treat we also love it with these tortilla chips... I like a couple to dunk and Enz likes a couple crunched up and mixed in. Usually we just have a bowl of soup with a piece of garlic bread and a salad for a hearty yet still mostly healthy dinner.

I hope you will love this soup as much as we do! What are your favourite comfort foods to make with fresh grown produce?

As promised, here is my simple vegetable stock recipe..

Simple Vegetable Stock

Ingredients:

350   grams Celery  (washed and chunked)
500 grams Carrots (peeled and chunked)
350   grams Onions (peeled and wedged)
1 1/2 Tbsp   Garlic (minced)
Olive Oil
1 tsp Salt
1/2   tsp Pepper
Water

Step one:

Prepare vegetables and place in a large pot along with the spices then, fill pot with cold water and bring to a boil.

Once boiling turn down to a low'n'slow simmer!

Step two:

*After about 1 1/2 hours do a broth taste check and add more salt/pepper if needed.*

Simmer for approximately 2 to 2 1/2 hours until broth is cooked down and vegetables are soft and squishable.

Step three: *OPTIONAL STEP*

Squish the vegetables through a strainer to get as much of the nutrients out of them as possible! If you don't want a 'pulpy' broth you can totally just remove the vegetables and be done with the broth as is!