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.
(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