My Tomato Soup Revelation

Oh my God.

I just made homemade Cream of Tomato soup. And I may NEVER buy tomato soup from a store again.

Who knew that Tomato Soup was so freaking easy to make? And who knew it was such a revelation. But holy cow. I'm buying 20 lbs of culled tomatoes this weekend and making several batches of soup to freeze for the winter months.

Tomato Soup for Two

• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 2 lbs ripe tomatoes (I used Dry-Farmed Early Girls), roughly chopped
• 1 c. homemade chicken stock
• 2 sprigs fresh marjoram
• 5-6 leaves fresh basil, chopped
• 1/2 - 1 c. heavy cream

1. Heat butter and olive oil over medium heat in a large dutch oven or other heavy pot.
2. Add onion and saute for 1 minute; add carrot, salt & pepper to taste, and saute for 2 minutes more.
3. Add roughly chopped tomatoes (do not seed or peel), crushing lightly between your fingers.
4. Add the stock and herbs; reduce heat to medium. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the tomatoes are softened and have released all their juice. Re-season, if necessary.
5. Remove the soup to a strainer or food mill. If using a strainer, allow the solids to drain for at least 10 minutes, stirring and pressing every couple of minutes.
6. Add the cream to the strained soup, and serve.

We had this soup with yummy grilled cheese sandwiches, made a la Alton Brown (the man is a genius, I tell you).

Easy Peasy Grilled Cheese Sammies

1. Put two heavy cast iron pans (one slighty larger than the other) over high heat for 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, spread one slice of bread thinly with dijon mustard. Top with grated cheddar cheese.
3. Remove the larger pan from the heat, and spray or rub lightly with olive oil. Set your sandwich inside
4. Rub the bottom of the smaller pan with olive oil, and set on top of your sandwich.
5. Let sit for 3-4 minutes, and you have the perfect grilled cheese sandwich.

Technorati Tags: Food | Food & Drink | Recipes | San Francisco | Oakland

Comments

[Alanna]

I'm with you on no more cans, that's for sure. My version is rustic -- and virtuous. I don't even WANT to know how good yours is with cream! http://kitchen-parade.blogspot.com/2005/08/summers-tomato-soup.html

[Joy]

*Sigh*, I love Alton almost as much as I love grilled cheese, which is almost as much as I love you.

[Beth - The Zen Foodist]

Holy crap that sounds good! Thanks for sharing!

[john]

Got some dry-farmed Early Girls this morning (from Dirty Girl Farm stand) and I'll make the soup for tonight--thanks!

I also got 20 pounds of Rhode Island Greenings (the Pink Paste Tomato of apples) and I'll make a pie. Tim at the Apple Farm stand says quinces next week.

[Fatemeh]

Oh, we had quince at Jack London Sq. last weekend -- do you have a good recipe for it?

Early Girl sometimes has a tub of "culled" tomatoes beneath the regular ones -- they were $1/lb last week; that's what I used for the soup. You're going to LOVE it!

[john]

What I do with quince:

peel them and slice the fruit away from the core--they're so hard that trying to quarter them (as you would with apples) is sort of dangerous on account of knife slips. Slice the fruit chunks around 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.

Make a sugar syrup in a wide pan--a dutch oven or a deep sauteuse. Bring it to a boil over high heat, add the quince slices, lower the heat and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the fruit becomes translucent and pink--the color transformation is really magical, from a dull tan color to this deep rose--and the syrup is very thick and sticky. If you want, you can put a couple of whole cloves into the syrup at the beginning (being careful to fish them out at the end) but I think this is unnecessary.

I serve this with roast goose, duck, lamb, or pork.

Thanks for the tip on the tomatoes. I paid $1.90 for "number ones" though the Greenings were "number twos," also just a dollar a pound.

[cookiecrumb]

Fatemeh! Two remarks:
1) Culled! Yes. $1 a pound.
2) Marjoram! Yes. Tasty.
(OK, three)
3) Cream! Yrmmm.
Now, then, quince: Make membrillo. Quince paste. Like apple sauce, but then you bake it for a while until it gets firmish. (Well, I do. Most recipes aren't finished in the oven. Mine was thick and sliceable.) Eat with Marcona almonds and Manchego cheese if you want to be all trite and traditional and happy.

[Alanna]

Hi -- Just wanted to let you know that I've included your wonderful soup in a Veggie Posts of the Week round-up over at A Veggie Venture. Thanks so much for the inspiration! Alanna

[john]

I had no idea making membrillo was that easy--thanks! I've been buying it at Spanish Table in Berkeley, where they also have the Marcona almonds, and eating both with a cheese I found at Cowgirl called Sierra Cabra--i.e. (if I'm following the word-order correctly) Nanny Goat Hill. (Which is the old name for a neighborhood in San Francisco, east of San Bruno Avenue, where some old friends of mine grew up in the 1940's...)

[Brett]

Sometimes the simplest things are the best, aren't they. Tomato soup from DG tomatoes sounds so good...and with cream, amazing. Thanks for the recipe.

[Fatemeh]

Cookie, marjoram is one of my favorite herbs, and terribly underused, IMHO. And thanks for the membrillo instructions... Will have to try it sometime!

Alanna - thank you SO much! I'm glad you like the recipe.

Brett - You'll have to try it and let me know what you think. I just couldn't believe how simple it was. It was really one of those "a-ha" moments in cooking.

[C]

It was, in a word, D-I-V-I-N-E!

Cream of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches is one of my very favorite meals of all times, especially on a crisp autumn evening, and this was about the best ever.

(Oh, and by the way; have I told you that I think you and your blog are "neato mosquito".)

Love,

C

[Catherine]

Just so's I'm clear on Alton's genius -- this is an open-faced grilled cheese, yes? No second piece o'bread on top?

[Fatemeh]

Catherine - I went back and read the directions, and I sure do make it sound like it's open-faced.

But no, it's a two-bread sammich. I just didn't make it particularly clear!

[Kris]

If you like this you might want to try my RGB Soup. You've got the basic tomato soup - but rather than adding that much cream use about 2Tbs and melt in 2-4oz of some kind of blue cheese. The stuff keeps me happy all winter long.

[Paul]

$1/lb. culled tomatoes? Where??

[Miro]

Deelish.

I'm sure you know this but you can freeze it w/o the cream and add on the warmup!

Also, I like to do a bisque replacing the cream with some rice when cooking the soup and blend that sucker together.

Yummy Maters!

[Jack]

We make heirloom tomato soup - but just once, a week ago, so far this year. Last year we bought up 15-20 lbs at the end of the season and made quite a lot. Easy to make. But you must strain it. I remember making one batch that was full of tiny bits of tomato skin and this subtracted from the enjoyment.

[Rachel De Nys]

We just made the soup and the grilled cheese (with gruyere and gouda) and man, is it good! Tripled the recipe and there was tons left to freeze (used San Manzanillo (sp?) yellow plum, and red beefsteak tomatoes). The seasonings were really on the money. Thanks so much for this delicious and easy dish!