The last thing I wanted to do last week when I was sick was cook. But oh, how I wanted something comforting. That’s when I remembered the Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Soup I made this summer with my abundant CSA tomatoes! We ate some the day I made it, but Henry wasn’t too fond of it. Knowing I couldn’t eat 6 cups of it myself, I threw it in the freezer for a rainy day.
I’m not a huge tomato soup fan, but got hooked on Trader Joe’s Red Pepper and Tomato Soup a few years ago. This recipe comes pretty close. The girls stuck their noses up at it, so Ryan and I had it for lunch a few days in a row with grilled cheese sandwiches for dipping. It was as delicious as I remembered.
I found the recipe at epicurious.com, doubled some things, omitted others and generally made it up as I went along. First I grabbed about 7 medium tomatoes and 3 huge ones, washed them up and started cutting them in half.
I also quartered a red pepper (I had more in a jar that I needed to use up) and sliced up a very large onion about the size of a cat’s head. No lie. It was big. I also threw 8 large garlic cloves into the pan. Next came olive oil drizzled over the veggies and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper.
I roasted the tomatoes, peppers, onions, and garlic for 20 minutes on 450 degrees until they were nice and charred.
After letting them cool, I peeled the skins off the tomatoes and peppers much like I did when I made salsa.
Then came the fun part… I pureed all the vegetables in a blender (except for about a quarter of the onion. That I ate off the baking sheet like a refugee who hadn’t seen food for a month even though I’d just had lunch.) I made sure to pour all the tomato drippings into the blender to keep the taste of the soup. The original recipe called for water to thin out the soup, but I didn’t end up needing any at all. If you end up needing a thinner, I recommend using a vegetable or chicken broth.
I was running out of blender space toward the end so I poured a little into a bowl so I could finish up the remaining vegetables. I also added salt and pepper to taste (and totally forgot about the thyme even though it was sitting right next to me on the counter). I made this in August and just took it out at the end of December. It tasted as fresh as the day I made it.
Enjoy!
Recipe, inspired by Epicurious and doubled:
- 10 medium/large tomatoes, halved lengthwise
- 2 large red bell peppers, quartered, seeded
- 1 huge onion, cut into thin wedges
- 8 large garlic cloves, peeled
- olive oil (preferably extra-virgin) for drizzling
salt and pepper
Roast vegetables on a cookie sheet at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.
Skin the peppers and tomatoes
Puree everything in the blender until smooth.
Reheat and serve.
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(c) 2016 Leighann Marquiss
Comments (1)
Sounds delightful! I may have to try this.
My hubby doesn’t like tomato soup at all, so I would definitely have to freeze mine in individual servings just for me! (:>)
Happy New Year!
Love, Linda