Oh soup. You are so easy to eat. Open a can, dump in a bowl, microwave. That’s it! No wonder people like you.
That is, until, they read your ingredients list. Which I bet a lot of you haven’t done. Because you aren’t slowly (or not so slowly) turning into a crazy person who does things like study the ingredients in a can of soup. Which I am.
Anyway, I was sick on Sunday, and the only thing that I could even contemplate eating was soup. In the state I was in, making my own was not exactly an option. So I grabbed a can and threw it on the stove and five minutes later I was staring at some good ole Progresso Penne with Chicken broth. Or something. I was delirious with illness, I don’t really remember
*Note: I would kindly appreciate it if the few of you who DO read this blog did NOT comment on the irony of me getting actually sick mere days after posting about my hypcondriacism (is that a word?). kaythanks.
Even being sick, even with my taste buds basically dead, this soup was yucky to me. The broth tasted weird, the penne was mushy, and it was so salty that I found myself with legit dry mouth after a measly 6 spoonfuls. Who cares if I’m exsagerating…it was not good. Let’s leave it at that.
So once i regained my health, I decided to make my own soup. Because why not. I had never done it, and I had a bunch of tomatoes that were starting to go in the wrong direction, and figured, well, how hard can it be to smoosh those up and make one of my favorites: Tomato Soup?
Turns out, it’s not so hard. OKAY FINE…it is harder than opening up a can and dumping the contents into a bowl and zapping it with weird radiation waves. But seriously, this is great for a rainy Sunday (or Monday, in my case) when you’ve got an hour or two with nothing on the agenda. Trust me. Once you taste it you’ll realize what a hollow sham your life has been up until this moment: Soup. Epiphany.
*Another Note: the foundation for this recipe is Tyler Florence’s Roasted Tomato Soup, but I changed some things and added a bunch of stuff, so if you want the basic version, go visit Tyler here.
Roasted Tomato Soup (With Surprises!)
*Final note, I swear: This is a 2 person serving. Double/Triple/whatever accordingly.
You’ll Need:
3-4 tomatoes, diced with seeds removed
2 small red onions, quartered
3 cloves of garlic
1 beet, quartered
1 banana pepper, seeds removed
2 bay leaves
1 small handful of basil, ripped up
2-3 cups of chicken stock
Approx 1/2 a cup of Sour Cream (or half & half)
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
A Splash of Port or Red Wine (optional)
To Do:
- preheat oven to 450 degrees
- Toss tomatoes, onions, peppers, beet and garlic with olive oil, salt & pepper
- Spread veggies on pan and roast until caramelized, 25-35 mins
- Dump veggies into a sauce pan, adding bay leaves, ripped up basil, and enough stock to cover everything. Simmer for 20-30 minutes until liquid is reduced of a third-ish.
- If using, add splash of Port or Red Wine, you Alcoholic you. Let it simmer a couple minutes more.
- Pour contents (minus the bay leaves) of sauce pan into a food processor.
- Blend until smooth, adding sour cream gradually (if you have one of those fancy immersion blenders, you can use that instead!)
- Return soup to pot, thinning out if necessary with more chicken stock.
- Douse with Parmesan Cheese and more Sour Cream. You’re regaining your strength! (at least that’s what I told myself)
There are so many layers of flavor in this seemingly simple soup, thanks to all my little add-ons (the pepper, the beet, the booze, etc). I didn’t take pictures of this BUT don’t be alarmed if your soup turns out to be a little pink. It’s the beet. And that beet is important because it makes this soup just the teeniest bit sweet, which in turn balances out the acid and the heat that the tomato and the pepper brings. I’ll say it again: layers, people. Layers:
A quality that you sure aren’t finding in that stupid can.
I hate the fact that you make soup. I also hate the fact that you make two serving size soups. I also hate you.
ps – I love you more than anything.
pps – please go back to the non-senseical redhead rambling that I am oh so fond of. Please?
when you start your restaurant, i am willing to do all the marketing for free food. just sayin
Well I am glad it is proven that there was no food poisoning from oysters, eggs in carbonara or whatever was consumed here. There is a sign at the front door that you all may have missed that says eat at your own risk. Just kidding. If you get sick its most likely because of excess consumption of libations. I’m thinking that tomatoe soup probably looked good but I’m so not a beet fan. Beach party 9-25. Who’s in?
i love progresso soup. chikarinaaaaa