Monday, September 15, 2008

Tomato Soup

Well, tomato soup is as basic as it gets, or as fancy as you want to make it. The only thing you absolutely need, besides tomatoes, is a food mill, (ok, and an onion), a food mill will save you tons of time and effort from having to skin and seed beforehand. If you don't have a food mill, buy one, I recommend Cusipro (about $75), but OXO looks like they have a good one...at the very least I'm sure someone you know, (maybe your mother!) has one, just ask around.












Here's the basic ingredient list,




olive oil
onion
garlic
tomatoes
salt / sugar

And even the garlic is optional.







If you want it fancier you can roast the veggies beforehand or add stuff like,

celery / carrot
other vegggies like diced butternut squash or pumkin
potato
fennel
red bell (jalapeno)
basil, thyme, oregano, dill, parsley, sage, etc.
red pepper flakes
lemon
white wine, red wine, balsamic
cream, milk
blah, blah, blah....

And once the basic soup is finished the possibilities are endless,

rice
barley (my fav)
vermicelli
croutons
white beans, garbanzos
corn (roasted)
cheeses, parmesean, chedder / jack, gorgonzola, etc.
greens, spinach chard, etc.
protein, chicken, hamburger meatballs
bacon

Good Lord, I could go on and on....


As I mentioned in an earlier post, I made this in a tradional soup making method of sauteing onion, celery, carrot, in olive oil, (adding the garlic in the last minute). In my last batch I added 1 fennel bulb diced, along with these. I sauteed them for about 10 minutes, and then turned the heat down to low to let them cook and carmelize longer while I diced the tomatoes, which took about 15-20 minutes.

Because I was uaing a foodmill, which removes the skin and seeds at the end, I added diced tomatoes, skins, seeds and all, along with 1/2-1 cup chicken stock, tasted for seasoning (salt), brought it to a boil, and then turned the heat down to low and cooked it 10-15 min., slightly covered.

When cool enough to handle I passed it through a food mill and tasted for final seasoning if needed, salt and sugar....done! I've been going super light on salt these days, and opting to not add sugar, as I get enough sugar in other foods I eat (although I admit, a little sugar, or brown sugar would make it super yummy....ok, next bowl I'll add a pinch of sugar!) I've been adding pre-cooked barley to mine and whatever protein I have on hand.

To skin and seed tomatoes without a food mill, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Score the bottom of the tomatoes with an "X" and drop them into the water for 20-30 seconds, then remove. Peel back the skins, cut them in half lengthwise (romas) and pull the seeds out with your fingers over a bowl,or the sink.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not that your great recipes need embellishment but I have found that if the tomatoes aren't as sweet as I would like and if I really don't want to add sugar that if I make this same basic soup but start out by roasting the tomatoes in the olive oil (just half or quarter them and roast in a shallow pan in a hot oven until they get some nice roasty colour on them) first and then make up the soup just like you say. It seems that the soup comes out more velvety that way too.

Tracy Reifkind said...

Wee,

I did mention roasting bforehand as another option....time consuming, although I prefer to roast my cauliflower before making it into soup.

Last year I roasted so many tomatoes, in fact there's the method and pictures posted last Sept/Oct on my other blog, that I always have loads of them in my freezer. Anyway...I have to pick my poison! More olve oil (for roasting) @ 100 calories a tablespoon, using at leat 2 tbls. for enough tomatoes to make soup....or 15 calories per teaspoon for sugar. Using, maybe 1 T. (45 cal.) in a whole batch of soup! Choices everyone should be aware of...I should write a blog post about that, lol!

Jen said...

Hi Tracy,

Yay! Thanks for the recipe. I'm excited to try my hand at tomato soup. My Father-in-law will love me even more than he already does! lol! I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm bidding on a brand new food mill on ebay tonight for $16.. (trying to save some bucks).. I've been craving applesauce too.. so I'll be using the food mill for that too!

Thanks again for always having the best ideas!

xoxo Jen

Anonymous said...

Oops sorry I missed the roasting in there. I was speed blogging again :) LOL

Totally agree with your point on the fat vs sugar that you make here and in the blog post you dedicated to it. It has to be about trade offs and making conscious decisions doesn't it.

Tracy Reifkind said...

Jen,

Is this the girl that probably spent hundreds of dollars for a green smoothie blender? LOL! (how's that going by the way)

Don't forget what happened with the cheap pressure cooker, lol!

What is up with us women? I swear, I'll spend big bucks on some things and refuse to buy mushrooms already sliced, because I can slice them myself instead of spending an extra $.50!

Tracy Reifkind said...

Wee,

One of these days soon I'll be able to roast anything I want slathered in good olive oil....but not quite yet!

With summer over my oven will be working overtime again....along with the pressure cooker!

Jen said...

I know Tracy.. I'm sooo BUSTED! I haven't done those green smoothies after you commented about them before.. I think I got that ash in my lungs about that time... but I needed a good blender and Greg has been using it like crazy and the dang thing is like a food processor which I don't have (broke my old one). I lost the bid on the food mill so I'll most likely get a REAL one (LOL!) Thanks for shining a light on my silliness! :)