Cream of Tomato Soup

Look, it is an update! I took a little vacation from cooking for a few weeks because I didn't want to end up hating it. Honestly no matter how efficient I do the dishes or clean-up, it is awful. But I digress. I saw this recipe doing some lazy browsing one morning.

It came out well. Perhaps I need to add some other spices though because basil and cloves just didn't do it for me. Here's some solid tips straight from my experience:

-The tomato paste is a must if you want a rich tomato flavor.
-The Grilled Cheese recommedation? DO IT! So good.

Cream of Tomato Soup
From: The Kitchn
serves 4 to 6

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Pinch of ground cloves
2 tablespoons flour
One 15-ounce can diced tomatoes in puree
Pinch of baking soda
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock, or water
1 cup milk, plus up to 1/2 cup more as needed
Tomato paste, as needed
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Melt the butter in a soup pot and add the chopped onions and celery. Cook for about five minutes, or until the vegetables are soft and wilted. Add the basil and cloves and cook another minute or two until fragrant, then add the flour. Continue cooking for another two minutes, stirring, and then add the tomatoes, followed by the baking soda and the stock.

Lower the heat and simmer for ten minutes or so. Remove the pot from the heat and carefully puree the soup in batches in a blender, or using a stick blender in the pot, off the heat. Return the soup to the heat and add the milk, stirring to blend. Add more milk or stock if the soup seems too thick. Add a little tomato paste if it needs more tomato flavor. Add some freshly ground black pepper and salt, to taste. Serve hot with optional garnishes, listed below.

Absolutely at its best when serves with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Notes:
• Be sure to use good quality canned tomatoes and try for tomatoes packed in puree, which will add to the tomato flavor. (This may be a good recipe to use passata.) I use Muir Glen's Fire Roasted Tomatoes, which add a nice depth of flavor and are not overly smoky.

• I don't always have a rib of celery on hand, so I have been known to skip it. When I do, I will often add a healthy pinch of celery seed to the onions when cooking or celery salt as a garnish.

• Although it is not traditional, I like to garnish this soup with a little plain yogurt or sour cream or creme fraiche. As mentioned, celery salt is a good garnish, as well as chooped celery leaves.

• It's easy to play with the texture of this soup. You can puree it in a blender, which makes a nice, slightly rough texture. If you would like it even smoother, you can also strain it through a sieve. The sieve (or a food mill) can also be used if you don't have a blender, or feel like having an unplugged kind of day.

Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans

Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans
Serves: 6
From: The Veganomicon (by the ladies of Post Punk Kitchen)

2 bulbs of garlic
1 Tbsp. of olive oil
1 medium sized yellow onion, diced as small as possible
1 c. long grain brown rice
2 bay leaves
2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried marjoram
2 tsp. salt
Several pinches of ground black pepper
2 (28 oz.) cans crushed tomatoes
1 (15 oz.) can navy beans, drained and rinsed (about 1 ½ c.)


Preheat oven 425º. Remove as much of the papery skin from the garlic bulbs as possible and slice off about a ½ an inch from the top of the bulbs so the top of your cloves are visible. Drizzle the top with olive oil. Wrap in a sheet of foil and roast in oven about 40-45 minutes. I recommend placing your foil bundle on a pan just in case any olive oil leaks.

Heat oil in soup pot over medium heat. Sauté onions in oil about 5-7 minutes, until translucent.

Add the rice, and seasonings through pepper and cook, stirring for about 2 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, then fill up one of the cans with water twice (56 ounces) and add the water.

Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer at least 45 minutes, or until rice is nearly tender.

While the soup is simmering, remove roasted garlic from foil. When it is cool enough to handle, squeeze the roasted garlic out of its skin into a small bowl and smash with a fork to a relatively smooth consistency. Add to the soup when the rice is nearly tender.

When the rice is completely cooked, add the beans and heat through.

Mushroom Barley Soup with Fresh Herbs

This is something new I tried for us last week. I will state now that I am far from vegan however that doesn't keep me from indulging in such recipes. I am always wanting to cook things that are tasty and not entirely terrible for you! Andy and I are pretty adventurous or perhaps he is just a wonderfully tolerant husband.

This recipe comes from Post Punk Kitchen. I cannot recommend their website and cookbooks enough. Andy bought me The Veganomicon for Xmas a couple of years ago and it is a great cookbook. I haven't picked up the latest release from them, Appetite For Reduction, but it is definitely going onto my wishlist.

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Mushroom Barley Soup with Fresh Herbs
From: Post Punk Kitchen

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 vidalia onion, thinly sliced (a regular yellow onion is fine, too!)
8 oz cremini mushroom, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 average sized zucchini, sliced into 1/4 inch thick half moons
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
1 average sized tomato, diced
3/4 cups uncooked pearled (quick cooking) barley
6 cups vegetable broth
Fresh black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Herb mix:
3 tablespoons fresh chopped dill
3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro
3 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
2 tablespoons fresh chopped thyme

Preheat a 4 quart pot over medium heat. Saute the onion in olive oil with a pinch of salt until translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the mushrooms and zucchini, and cook until slightly softened and some of the moisture has been released, about 5 more minutes. Mix in the garlic and saute for a minute or so.

Add celery, tomato, barley, broth, pepper and salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer, add herbs, cover again and cook until barley is tender, about 10 minutes. Salt and season to taste. For best results, let it sit for at least 10 minutes uncovered so that the flavors can marry. Serve garnished with extra herbs.

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