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When tomatoes went on sale for $.40 a pound at my local produce market, I went a little crazy. Like, 60 pounds crazy. Let me tell you – I got some strange looks that day as I was checking out! To be fair, 30 pounds of that was for my mom, who was planning on skinning and freezing the whole tomatoes to use later in the year for sauces and soups. The question is, what was I going to do with my 30 pounds of tomatoes?
There are a lot of things you can make with tomatoes, and while tomato soup is not usually my favorite, this recipe looked interesting and I opted to try it. It used lots of tomatoes (definitely a plus given my current situation) and didn’t involve skinning the tomatoes first (a HUGE plus since skinning tomatoes can be a pain). AND it can be canned, which is great, because it meant that I could quadruple the recipe and have some this winter when the taste of fresh tomatoes is far, far away.
This soup will not disappoint. It is great as is, or you can add a little cream and sugar. Sugar? Yes. It cuts down on the acidity a bit. I added a teaspoon or two of brown sugar to my bowl, along with some salt and cream, and voila! A wonderful soup that I quickly wished I had hidden from my roomie. She scarfed the whole jar *and* ate my garlic bread. Hmph.
roasted tomato soup
2.5 pounds fresh tomatoes
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 small yellow onions, sliced
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
4 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
3/4 cup heavy cream, optional
Preheat oven to 450F.
Wash, core, and cut the tomatoes into halves. Spread the tomatoes, garlic cloves, and onions into a baking try. Drizzle with half a cup of olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Roast for 20 to 30 minutes, or until caramelized.
Remove roasted tomatoes, garlic and onion from oven and transfer to a large stock pot. Add 3 cups of chicken broth and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until liquid has reduced by a third. Remove bay leaves.
Add basil leaves to the pot. Using a blender, puree the soup until smooth.
Add cream, if desired, and adjust consistency with remaining chicken stock, if necessary. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with a splash of cream, if desired.
Note: I also like to add some brown sugar to taste to my bowl to cut the acidity.
16 responses so far ↓
1 Shirley Madsen // Aug 16, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Too late for me to make this soup with my 30 pounds plus of tomatoes. I processed my Romas as I told you I would and they are stacked nice and pretty in my freezer. I have enough ‘fresh’ tomatoes to get me through this winter and several more besides! I wonder if I should even plant tomatoes next year.
2 Bob M // Aug 17, 2009 at 10:13 am
Awesome!!!
3 Amy // Aug 17, 2009 at 10:52 am
Can this soup be frozen?
4 paulawong // Aug 17, 2009 at 10:55 am
absolutely it can be frozen!!!! :)
5 Mary Peyton // Aug 17, 2009 at 11:16 am
Holy tomato! I actually have all these ingredients in the house. Hello DINNER!
6 Jo // Aug 17, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Umm, what happened to the billions of tomatoes that you grew?!? This recipe looks great, I’ll definitely try it :) I’ve made a very similar recipe with bell peppers, which was way yummy, too.
7 LeAnn // Aug 17, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Aaaah, what a great use for tomatoes. And it can be canned – even better!
8 Lambda // Aug 17, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Looks devine :)
9 susan durham // Aug 18, 2009 at 9:05 am
wow kiddo…you’re big time now with a website and all…and your roasted tomato soup looks great. I vote for bread recipes too….
10 Erin // Aug 18, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Wow! this sounds so great, and it looks simple! I love a recipe that doesn’t have a million ingredients, for a working mom those are just too overwhelming. Tomato soup is absolutely one of my favorite comfort foods…w/ a toasted cheese sandwich on a cold day…I can’t wait to try it. Thanks Paula :)
11 maile // Aug 19, 2009 at 10:24 am
Looks wonderful, but I have one question – It says this recipe is vegetarian, but it does include chicken broth. Is there a good veggie substitute for anyone that doesn’t want to eat chicken broth… namely me? I looooove tomato soup, and would be thrilled if I could make a good one at home!
12 paulawong // Aug 19, 2009 at 10:29 am
Ah, good point. Many of my veggie friends still will use chicken broth. Just use veggie broth instead. Should still taste great. :)
13 jes // Aug 20, 2009 at 12:29 am
I think you should be nicer to your roommate. You may have hurt her feelings with this post. For that, you should probably make her some more of this delicious soup.
Also, please include the recipe for crack, I mean, “garlic” bread that accompanies this dish oh so well.
14 paulawong // Aug 20, 2009 at 12:35 am
Ah, yes, but there’s no recipe for that ‘crack.’ I wing it every time. I’m sure I could come up with some sort of set recipe, though. :)
15 Shirley Madsen // Aug 24, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Yum! I’ll make this this week with all those tomatoes on my counter!
16 Erin // Oct 12, 2009 at 9:01 am
So, we had this Friday night for dinner, after it had been in my freezer for 2 weeks. We made it with some toasted cheese sandwiches and it hit the spot! I hadn’t been feeling well that day, and it was the comfort food I needed. I am a huge tomato soup fan, and this soup had so much more flavor than the usual tomato bisque soup I eat. Even my kids loved it (and they are always the biggest critics).
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