Slow Roasted Tomato Soup

This Slow Roasted Tomato Soup is made with tomatoes from my garden that I slow roasted and froze last summer.

I planted a bunch of tomato plants last year and ended up with a pretty good harvest. After making marinara, salsa, soup, and tomato bread, I ran out of ideas so I ended up slow roasting a bunch and freezing several containers for later use.

I hope to have a good harvest again this year. I just started a bunch of tomato plants and they all seem to be sprouting really well under the glow light in my garage. 

As I was thinking about what I would make with the tomatoes from this year’s harvest, I realized I needed to use some of my slow roasted tomatoes from last year. 

 

I found this simple and delicious soup recipe on Kitchen Parade.

 

Slow Roasted Tomato Soup

Adapted from: Kitchen Parade

Ingredients:

• 8 cups (4 cans) chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 large onion, diced small
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 1/2 cups slow-roasted tomatoes
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Thyme to garnish, optional

 

Directions:

Bring broth to boil in the microwave.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add sugar, onion and garlic and sauté until softened but not browning.

 

Stir in the slow-roasted tomatoes and hot broth and return to a boil.  I added 3 cans of broth at this point. You can also add some half ‘n’ half, but I decided not to use any. 

 

 

I let the soup cool down a bit, then puréed it in the blender.  It was pretty thick so I placed the purée back in the stock pot and added a couple more cups of chicken broth.  Then it was ready to eat. 

I like this soup. Since I already had the roasted tomatoes, it was really easy to prepare. It makes a good weeknight dinner. I served it with the Biscott Picanti.

 

Here are some of the other dishes I made with my tomato harvest from last year.  I’m looking forward to making more this year.

• Tomato Bread Soup
• Classic Tomato Soup from the Garden
• Garden Tomato Bread
• Slow Cooker Tomato Herb Soup
• Grilled Margherita Pizza

Classic Tomato Soup from the Garden

Nothing beats the taste of fresh tomatoes from the garden.  At least that is what I’ve always heard. I had never really been fond of tomatoes regardless of whether they were fresh from the garden or from the market.  That is, until I started growing my own tomatoes. There’s just something about growing your own food that makes you appreciate the flavor of food more and gives you a sense of satisfaction in knowing that you are eating healthy. 

Even though I didn’t care too much for raw tomatoes growing up, I have always enjoyed dishes made with tomatoes, particularly tomato soup. When you pair tomato soup with crusty bread or a grilled cheese sandwich, it’s comfort food at it’s finest.

I picked a bunch of tomatoes from my garden the other day and since the weather has gotten a little bit cooler, I decided to make tomato soup - again.  This Classic Tomato Soup is made with Roma tomatoes and herbs from my garden.

 

A friend came over for dinner the other night and I served this tomato soup with the Garden Tomato Bread I posted about a few days ago.

 

The combination of the tomato soup and bread was delicious! I think this is my favorite tomato soup so far. It’s smooth and creamy, but it doesn’t have any milk or cream in it. My friend enjoyed this soup so much that he texted me a couple of days later and said “The soup is still on my mind. Next time you make it, make a couple of extra bowls 4 me”. I still have a bunch of tomatoes so I don’t’ think that will be a problem.

 

Classic Tomato Soup

Yield: 8 cups

From: Fine Cooking Magazine 91, pp. 55; January 16, 2008
 http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/meyers-classic-tomato-soup.aspx?

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 large clove garlic, smashed and peeled
• 2 Tbs. all-purpose flour
• 3 cups lower-salt chicken broth
• 28-oz. can whole peeled plum tomatoes, puréed (include the juice)  (I used fresh Roma tomatoes)
• 1-1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1 sprig fresh thyme (or more to taste)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 Tbs. thinly sliced fresh basil, chives, or dill, or a mixture of all three

 

Directions:

1. I used about 44 ounces of fresh Roma tomatoes. I blanched them in boiling hot water, then put them in ice cold water and the peels came right off.

   

    

2. In a nonreactive 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven, heat the oil and butter over medium-low heat until the butter melts. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft but not browned, about 8 minutes. Add the flour and stir to coat the onion and garlic.

   

    

3. Add the broth, tomatoes, sugar, thyme, and 1/4 tsp. each salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat while stirring the mixture to make sure that the flour is not sticking to the bottom of the pan. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes.

   

    

4. Discard the thyme sprig. Let cool briefly and then purée in two or three batches in a blender or food processor.

   

    

5. Rinse the pot and return the soup to the pot. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Reheat if necessary. Serve warm but not hot, garnished with the herbs.

   

    

   Note: This soup stores beautifully and tastes better the second day. You can keep it in the refrigerator as long as you bring it to a boil every two days. Or you can stash it in the freezer for up to three months.

   nutrition information (per serving):
   Calories (kcal): 110; Fat (g): 5; Fat Calories (kcal): 50; Saturated Fat (g): 1.5; Protein (g): 3; Monounsaturated Fat (g): 3; Carbohydrates (g): 11; Polyunsaturated Fat (g): 0.5; Sodium (mg): 430; Cholesterol (mg): 5; Fiber (g): 2;

Slow Cooker Tomato Herb Soup

I’ve been looking for ways to utilize my tomato harvest. I have an assortment of 30+ tomato plants. I planted a lot of Roma tomatoes to make marinara and tomato sauce, but I also have lemon cherry, Virginia Sweets, First Prize, Giant Belgium, Early Girl, Viva Italia, San Marzano, Beefmaster, and Black Russian. Some of them are heirloom and some aren’t, but I started all of them from seeds. I didn’t expect all of the seeds to germinate let alone survive so I am very proud of my babies.

So far this summer, I’ve made salsa, marinara, tomato basil sauce, grilled tomatoes over pasta (a few times) and roasted tomatoes. 

I still have lot’s of tomatoes so I decided to make some tomato soup to freeze for the Fall and Winter. I went online to find a new recipe and found just what I was looking for on the Soup Chick. One of things I really like about this soup is that you don’t have to heat up your kitchen to make it. It’s made in the crock pot. How do you like that? I did…

 

Recipe for Slow Cooker Tomato Herb Soup

You can find the recipe on Soup Chick.  You’ll also find an assortment of other soups that you might like to try.

I used about 60 ounces of fresh tomatoes instead of diced tomatoes, but it’s nice to know that I can make this soup with diced tomatoes when my harvest is gone. I doubled the rest of the recipe.

I was hesitant to use the mayonnaise called for in the recipe because I’m not a big fan of mayonnaise, but then I read the comments about how it’s used as an emulsifier so I decided to include it.  I also had all of the herbs she used, but if you don’t like the combination of herbs she chose, you can use different herbs.

The Soup Chick left some of her soup chunky, but I pureed all of my soup in the blender.  The chunky soup looks good, but I decided I wanted a creamier texture. I also cooked mine several hours longer than she did.

I liked the process for making this soup. I also liked the flavor.  I’m looking forward to enjoying it with some crusty bread this Fall when it gets a little bit cooler.

 

My Tomato Harvest

In case you’re wondering, here are some of the tomato plants that contributed tomatoes for this soup.  This is a photo of my straw bale garden at the beginning of the season. I have (or had)  Roma, Virginia Sweets, First Prize, Viva Italia, and Black Russian tomatoes planted here. They have produced a wonderful harvest, but some of the plants have already gone on to tomato heaven.

 

 

I also have a bunch of Roma tomato plants, Lemon Cherry, Viva Italia, Early Girl and First Prize planted in big pots on my front walkway and on the back deck.  They’re still going strong, but they’ll be winding down soon – I hope.

 

I’ve been enjoying my tomato harvest this year, but I think maybe I’ll give more of the plants away next time…

 

Thanks for visiting the Bread Experience bread baking blog.  I hope you’ll join me again soon.

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy

Roasted Tomato Soup

It’s National Soup Month!  I’ve been enjoying lots of good soup this month, but this Roasted Tomato Soup turned out to be the soup to celebrate.  It is a simple soup made with fresh tomatoes.

 

This soup was made with the last tomatoes from my garden. I know its way past growing season but the tomatoes didn’t get the message. When the weather turned cold, they were still trying to ripen on the vine. I didn’t want them to freeze so I removed them from the vines and let them ripen inside. I just couldn’t give up on them because most of these tomatoes were heirloom tomatoes that I had planted from seeds. It took a while, but they finally ripened so I was able to make some homemade basil tomato sauce and tomato soup.

 

Garden Fresh Roasted Tomato Soup

Adapted from this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/CustomRecipe/62428497/Garden-Fresh-Tomato-Soup/Detail.aspx

Makes: 6 servings

This Garden Fresh Roasted Tomato Soup has less ingredients and tastes more like traditional tomato soup than the Fresh Tomato Soup I made this past summer. That soup was good, but it wasn’t quite the flavor I was looking for in a tomato soup.

 

Ingredients:

• 8 cups chopped fresh tomatoes, roasted
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 to 6 cloves of garlic
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon dried basil (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (or to taste)
• 1-2 teaspoons white sugar to taste
  

I used some Black Russian, Roma and other heirloom tomatoes as well as some non-heirloom tomatoes for this soup. I roasted them with some olive oil and dried herbs which really brought out the flavor. They tasted great even for end of the season.

 

 

Directions:

1. In a stockpot, over medium heat, combine the tomatoes and chicken broth.

   

    

2. Sauté garlic and onion in olive oil until onion is transparent and soft.

   

    

3. Add to stockpot. Bring to a boil, and gently boil for about 20 minutes to blend all of the flavors. Remove from heat and cool for 20-30 minutes.

   

    

4. Run the mixture through a food processor and return to stockpot on medium heat.

   

    

5. In sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour to make a roux, cooking until the roux is a medium brown.

   

    

6. Gradually whisk in a bit of the tomato mixture so that no lumps form, then stir roux into the stockpot. Season with sugar and salt, and adjust to taste. Then, enjoy!

    

    

   Remember soup goes really well with bread.  Might I suggest this Healthy Bread in Five Minutes 100% Whole Wheat Flaxseed Bread.

   

    

   Thanks for joining me in the bread baking blog.  Here are some bread-making resources to assist you when you're in the mood to bake bread,

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Fresh Tomato Soup

Everyone knows I like to can so I seem to be the recipient of lots of tomatoes and cucumbers despite the fact that I already have a bunch of both.

A couple of weeks ago, my sister and I visited my mom. She had just picked about 72 tomatoes from her garden so of course, she sent some home with us. A friend also gave me some tomatoes. I had already picked tomatoes from my garden and canned a bunch of salsa and made marinara so I wanted to do something different with these tomatoes.  They were getting really ripe really fast. 

So I set out to make some fresh tomato soup. I've been wanting to make homemade tomato soup for awhile. The funny thing is, I don't really like tomatoes (by themselves, that is), but I love tomato soup.

About the same time I decided to make the soup, we were scheduled to bake Four-Leaf Clover Brocolli & Cheddar Buns for the HBinFive Baking Group.  Tomato Soup and Brocolli & Cheddar Buns seemed like the perfect match.

I found the perfect country-style recipe in one of my canning cookbooks.  This tomato soup should be refrigerated or frozen, not canned for storage.


Fresh Tomato Soup
My soup is adapted from this recipe in the The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard.
Makes: 8 cups

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 large onions, sliced crosswise (about 2 cups/500 mL)
2 medium carrots, coarsely chopped
1-2 celery stalks, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 strips fresh orange zest
8 cups chopped peeled ripe tomatoes (about 4 lbs/2 kg)
1 cup chicken broth (or more if needed)
1 tbsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp (5 mL) dried (I also added some basil.)
1 bay leaf
1-2 tsp granulated sugar (or more if needed)
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onions, carrots, celery, garlic and orange zest; cook for 8 minutes or until vegetables are softened.

Add tomatoes, broth, thyme, bay leaf, sugar, salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently, or until tomatoes are cooked.

Discard bay leaf and allow to cool.  Transfer to blender or food processor and process until very smooth.

After I pureed the mixture, I tasted it and realized it was not to my liking. It was a little too acidic and the flavor was off a bit. So I added more chicken broth and seasoned it with more salt, sugar, garlic and some basil.  I finally got it to where I liked it.

I served some for dinner and ladled the rest into freezer containers.  You can refrigerate this soup for up to 5 days or freeze it for up to 6 months.  Defrost before reheating to serving temperature.  If the soup is thicker that you wish, stir in extra chicken stock or milk.

In addition to freezing several containers of soup, I also froze two containers of the HBinFive Brocolli and Cheddar dough.  I made the full batch so that I would have extra dough leftover.  So the next time we have this soup, we can also have some more of the buns.

I hope this dough freezes well.  I guess I'll find out.


Thanks for joining me in the bread-baking blog.  Remember soup goes really well with bread. 

When you're in the mood to bake (and eat) some bread, here are some bread-making resources:

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You might enjoy some of the other breads that have been featured in the bread making blog.

Four-Leaf Clover Brocolli & Cheddar Buns: HBinFive

For the August 1st HBinFive Bread Braid, we were supposed to make Four-Leaf Clover Brocolli and Cheddar Buns and Mesquite Bread.  I had already made Southwestern Focaccia/Pizza in April using the mesquite dough and Mesquite Pizza and Buns in May so for this bread braid, I just focused on the Four-Leaf Clover Brocolli and Cheddar Buns.

The recipe for these Four-Leaf Clover Brocolli and Cheddar Buns can be found on page 174 of the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes book.

Step 1: Prepare the brocolli puree.

Steam the brocolli florets for a couple of minutes.

Then puree the brocolli in the blender.

Step 2: Make the Dough

Mix together the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients, including the brocolli puree.  Mix, without kneading, using a spoon, food processor, a mixer, or a dough whisk like I did.

Step 3: Ferment the Dough

Cover and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses, about 2 hours.  Then refrigerate the dough overnight and use it over the next 7 days.

I left the dough in the refrigerator two nights and made the buns on the 2nd day.

Step 4: Shape the Buns

Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1 1/2-pound piece.  Quickly shape the dough into a loose ball.

Divide the ball into 8 roughly equal portions. 

Cut each of these portions into 4 smaller pieces.  Shape each one into a round ball.  Put the 4 rounds together to from the clover lead and place in greased muffin cups.

Step 5: Proof the Buns

Allow to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 40 minutes.

Step 6: Bake the Buns

Just before baking, sprinkle the buns with cheddar cheese.

Bake the buns for about 20 to 25 minutes, until richly browned and firm.  I didn't use a baking stone underneath so I baked them at 375 degrees instead of 450 degrees.

Step 7: Eat the Buns

Remove the buns from the oven and allow them to cool slightly on a wire rack before eating.

These Four-Leaf Clover Brocolli and Cheddar Buns have a very unique flavor.  I thought they would go really well with the homemade tomato soup I made using fresh tomatoes from my garden and some from my mother's garden.  Here is the recipe for the homemade tomato soup.

Thanks for joining me in the bread-baking blog.  Check out BigBlackDog to see all of the breads in the August 1st Bread Braid roundup. 

Happy Baking!
Cathy



About the HBinFive Baking Group

The HBinFive Baking Group, started by Michelle of Big Black Dogs, is baking through all of the breads in the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes book. For more information on the HBinFive baking group, check out BigBlackDog.




Here are some additional bread-making resources:

• Bread Recipes
• Bread Cookbooks
• Bread Making
• Baking Supplies
• Bread Flour
• Bread Mixes