Tomatoes may be a summer crop, but tomato soup makes for the coziest cold weather fare, don't you think? One day recently, I packed up the ingredients to make Roasted Tomato Soup at my daughter's house. She has gorgeous light in her kitchen!
Roasting fresh tomatoes to mix with aromatics and canned tomatoes is genius. It brings the sweetness out and takes the flavor that much deeper.
While the tomatoes are roasting, sauté onion, garlic, AND shallots. It might seem overboard to use all three, but I don't recommend skipping any one of them!
When they are soft, add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, and chicken stock.
When buying canned tomatoes, buy organic. The flavor is better and you save yourself from the ill effects of pesticides. Muir Glen is a good brand canned in California in non-BPA lined cans, but I also love the SMT San Marzano Italian imports I find at my local grocery store.
Four cups of basil may seem like too much, but you would be making a mistake to skimp on it! Paired with the thyme, you have an amazing combination of flavor.
When the tomatoes are roasted, they are added to the crushed tomatoes, aromatics, and herbs and left to simmer into yummy goodness for 40 minutes.
You could eat Roasted Tomato Soup chunky if you like, but I always puree it in the blender, reminiscent of canned tomato soup albeit much better in flavor! I've tried using an immersion blender, but it didn't make it as smooth as I like so I go the extra step to use the blender.
Mmmm ... just perfect for a cold fall or winter day!
Recipe
Roasted Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 8 plum tomatoes quartered
- Olive oil - for coating the tomatoes before roasting and sautéing the aromatics.
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- Fresh ground pepper to taste
- ½ large yellow onion chopped
- 3 shallots chopped
- 6 cloves of garlic minced
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- Generous dash of red pepper flakes
- 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 4 cups fresh basil leaves chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme pulled from stems
- 4 cups chicken stock
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Toss the tomato wedges, ¼ cup of the oil, salt, and pepper together. Spread the tomatoes on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven (at least 6 quarts), sauté the onion, shallots, and garlic in 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, the butter, and red pepper flakes for about 10 minutes, until the onions become translucent.
- Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, and chicken stock. Add the roasted tomatoes when they are done, including any juice released in the roasting.
- Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Use a blender to purée the soup to the consistency you like.
- Reheat to serving temperature.
- Bon Appétit!
Shari Ryburn
I'm making this right now for dinner to serve with grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. Sounds simple? Yes. But I think a homemade soup and some really good bread, ham and creamy cheeses can make it 'gourmet'. 🙂 I'll let you know how it turns out. BTW - I am roasting a head of garlic too so will probably use that instead of raw.
Shari Ryburn
It was yummy!
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I'm so glad you like it!
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Roasted garlic would be really good, too, Shari! I like to make it with grilled ham and cheese as well, and a friend of mine made it with shrimp cakes. That sounded really good!