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!