Recipe: Roasted Tomato Soup

Our neighbours are a lovely older Italian couple with a veritable farm in their backyard.  One of the reasons they are utterly charming neighbours is because they will, on occasion, share with us some of the bounty from their beautiful vegetable garden.  Trust me when I say that you've never tasted tomatoes like this. They are so tomatoey!  And look, gorgeous and crisp banana peppers too!

We could have consumed all of this produce fresh, in salads quite easily.  But when you've got a bunch of the best produce you've ever tasted, that was given to you free of charge, you want to improvise a soup and risk losing it all, right?  Spoiler alert: it was delicious. Thank goodness, I would have been filled with such regret if it wasn't.



What you'll need:

8 medium / large size Tomatoes
1 medium Red Onion
6 cloves of Garlic
1 large carrot
1 large or 2 small Peppers (banana or red bell)
Olive Oil
1 small can of Tomato Paste
1 carton Vegetable Stock
2 Bay Leaves
Fresh Basil
Sea Salt to taste
Fresh Ground Pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Rough chop all of your veggies

2.  Peel your garlic, but leave it whole

3.  Toss the whole mess with Olive Oil, Sea Salt, Fresh Ground Pepper

4.  Roast on a sheet pan in a 400 degree oven for approximately 1 hour

5.  Take your roasted veg and toss them into a large pot with the tomato paste

6.  Incorporate the tomato paste with the veggies, cooking it out for a while to "wake up" the flavour of the paste.  That stuff can get almost musty tasting sitting in the can, but once you stir and heat it up it tastes full bodied and tangy

7.  Add stock to the pot, just enough to cover the veg

8.  Add the bay leaves

9.  Bring to a boil over a medium / high heat

10.  Simmer for 30 minutes

11.  Take off heat and let cool slightly, remove the bay leaves and blend with an immersion blender

12.  Stir in some chopped or torn basil

13.  Taste and correct seasoning

14.  Serve with a chiffonade of basil on top and a grilled cheese sandwich (DUH!)

Verdict:

The first attempt, with the bounty from our neighbours' yard was, I gotta say it, perfection.  I tried making this again, with grocery store tomatoes and red bell peppers instead of the banana peppers and it was a little lackluster.  You can't beat home grown, I guess.  This also works as a Gaszpacho so if you're looking for something different to bring to a BBQ Labour Day Weekend, this might just be it!

Recipe: Potage Parmentier

Sometimes I get stuck in a rut when I'm menu planning.  I find that if I don't make a real effort to THINK about and plan what I'm going to pull together suddenly it's a week full of the same stuff.  Pasta, pasta, pasta.  Chicken, chicken, chicken.  Booooooooring.  I sat down last week and I asked myself what some of my favourite food memories were.  Maybe I could try to replicate some of those memories in my own kitchen.  A few special events and fancy restaurants came to mind but the first thing I thought of was a bowl of homemade soup I had in a farmhouse kitchen in 1994.

My friends Jen and Emily's grandmother lived in a farmhouse in London, Ontario.  I had heard about "the farm" for years but went for my first visit with Jen in 1994.  It was a beautiful place full of English looking gardens, picture windows, antiques and books.  One day for lunch, our hostess served us a sort of ploughman's lunch...bread, cheese and this insanely delicious potato soup, that she seemed to whip up without any effort whatsoever.  Now, I've always been a fan of the potato, but until then I didn't know that it could be served in soup form (I know, duh!).  Over the years since then I've had several bowls of Potato Leek soup in restaurants but nothing has ever come close to that first bowl of thick, buttery goodness.  My effort to replicate my friends' grandmother's soup started with another formidable woman: Julia Child.

Not to get all Julie Powell on you here, the very first recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking is for Potage Parmentier - Potato and Leek (or Onion) Soup.  As Julia Child says in her notes this soup is "simplicity itself".  I decided to make it with onions instead of leeks because I don't recall that bowl of soup in London having anything obvious in it other than potatoes.  Most people go with leeks, in part I think because it seems more French or authentic or something, to which I say, "whatever".

What you'll need:

4 cups of cold water
4 cups of potatoes, peeled and diced
3 cups of onions, chopped
4-6 tablespoons of cream OR 2-3 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon salt

Yes, that's IT!  Simplicity.  Itself.

Wine pairing:

Something French!  Pick something out yourself!  I'm sick of picking your wine for you!  Why did I even ever begin to suggest that I could?  I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT WINE.  And this, right here, is how the wine pairing part of Project: cold cereal is for breakfast died.  Happy?

Listening:

This is a suggestion I am confident making, right here.

Directions:

1.  Peel and chop your potatoes and onions.

2.  Simmer vegetables, water and salt together, partially covered, 40 - 50 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

3.  This is the part where Julia Child tells you to take the pot off the heat and mash the vegetables together with a fork.  It's the part where I panic that I didn't saute anything, season anything or boil anything in stock.  I mashed everything together with my potato masher.  Don't use your blender, that would have made Julia sad and it will make your soup too smooth.  Resist!  Do as she says!

4.  Now, stir in your cream or butter.  I think butter has to be the better option as it provides so much more flavour.  I stirred in 3 tablespoons of Becel.  Don't tell Julia.

5.  Correct your seasoning.  You might need more salt, although I didn't.  I added fresh ground pepper.  If I had any in the house I might have added some parsley or chives, but I didn't have any on hand, and frankly I didn't miss it.

Verdict:  She's Julia Child for a reason, people.  This may be not only the easiest thing I've ever cooked but the most delicious.  It is seriously SO good.  It tasted a lot like that wonderful soup I had in 1994 too, only perhaps more onion-y.  The other cool thing about this recipe is that it is endlessly adaptable, you could add all kinds of different vegetables and herbs or serve it cold.  That said, I can't ever see getting tired of the original version.  In fact, I wish I were eating some right now.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Soup

Nobody's calling me a Domestic Goddess over here, but one of the ways I'm hoping to spend my time while I'm on maternity leave is to get more creative in the kitchen. We have lots of great green grocers near our house and I've always loved the idea of picking up whatever is fresh and in season and just "coming up" with something for dinner that night. I also have lots of cook books and magazines just brimming with recipes that I've been threatening to try for...let's face it...years. Now that I won't be leaving the office at 6pm or later every night I might just have a hope of striking a few of them off my to-do list. Call it Project: Cold Cereal is for Breakfast.

I'll be collecting the recipes I create and try here because it's 2010 and who the hell has a recipe box anymore?  Losers and Grandmas that's who.  That's right, I just called your Grandma a loser.  Deal with it.

Tonight: Sweet Potato Soup!

So, soup.  Who doesn't love a nice hearty soup this time of year?  When I was growing up, in the 80's, the only soup we ever had (other than my Mom's awesome turkey soup on Boxing Day) was Campbell's Tomato or Lipton's Chicken Noodle.  If you wanted to make them "special" you would make the tomato soup with milk or add a butt load of saltines to the chicken noodle.  Looking back, we might as well have been eating bowls of hot water and salt.  Back then, the idea of making soup from scratch or coming up with my own recipe seemed impossible.  Turns out soup is one of the easiest things to make.  Once you have the mechanics down, the possibilities are endless!  I, for one, will never be buying pre-made soup again.

What you'll need:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (a couple of glugs)
3 cloves of Garlic
1 medium sized Yellow Onion
2 ribs of Celery
2 medium sized Carrots
2 large Sweet Potatoes
Nutmeg (fresh or dried, to taste)
Ginger (fresh or dried, to taste)
Pepper (fresh ground, to taste)
1 carton (900ml) Vegetable Stock
Parsley (fresh, a handful)

Wine pairing:  I know less than nothing about food and wine pairing.  I do however, know what I like.  What I like is this - inexpensive and red.  I also like drinking cheap red wine while I'm cooking.  Tonight's selection is my new favourite by Barefoot Vineyards in California and it is a Cab Sav.  It is deeelicious.  It costs like, $10.  Awesome all around.

Listening:  Ellis Marsalis Trio (featuring Jason Marsalis), Twelve's It.  These warm, swinging tunes are a great match for the comfort and zen that chopping up a bunch of veggies while wearing your comfy pants and enjoying a glass of wine brings.  Trust.

Directions:

1.  Throw a couple of glugs of olive oil into your soup pot (I usually go around the bottom of the pot twice).  Turn the heat up to medium / high.  That's a 6 on my burner.

2.  Once the olive oil is good and hot add your 3 cloves of garlic (crushed) and your onion (chopped) and let them stay in there by themselves until they start to get fragrant.  Stir frequently to make sure the garlic doesn't burn.  If you feel like the garlic is getting too brown too fast, turn down the heat.

3.  After a couple of minutes you can start adding the rest of your vegetables, which should be chopped into 1" cubes or smaller.  Also add your nutmeg and ginger (you can add more later, I like a lot).  I like to saute everything for at least 45 minutes so that they have lots of time to get tender and caramelized.  This is when it starts to smell like someone is doing some serious work in your kitchen.  Stir occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom, but let the bottom of the pot get nice and brown.  There's lots of flavour in those brown bits.

4.  Once you're satisfied that everything is tender you can add your vegetable stock.  I like to use the Wolfgang Puck Organic or the Campbell's (25% less sodium) Organic.  I know, I'm an elitist, lefty, latte drinking snob suggesting organic stock but it IS so much better.  There's also a lot less salt.  There is so much great flavour in all these veggies, you don't need any unnecessary salt.  When you pour the stock into your pot, make sure to scrape all those brown bits up from the bottom for flavour and colour.  Make sure that the stock covers the veggies, if you need a little more liquid you can add some water.

5.  Let the soup come to a boil and simmer, covered, on medium / low heat (that a 3 on my burner) for at least 30 minutes.

6.  Blend the soup in batches in a regular blender or use an immersion blender to blend the whole mess in the pot.

7.  Add pepper to taste (again, I like a lot) and garnish with some chopped parsley and some more pepper on top.  The parsley adds a nice fresh contrast to the rich flavours of the soup.

8. Enjoy!

I served this soup with a side of white asparagus which I roasted in olive oil, lemon and garlic and some crusty french bread.  This made a lovely, simple weeknight dinner.  I'd consider serving a smaller portion as a first course at a dinner party and would definitely love to cook this up for my vegetarian and vegan pals.

Verdict:  Sweet Potato Soup is a win / win / win.  Easy and fun to make, super yummy, filling and really very good for you.