Roberta Boyle inspired me to try this Tomato Roasted Garlic Soup from the Oprah Magazine Cookbook. From her description of making it, it sounded ridiculously easy with such positive results I just had to try. I did, however, change the recipe a little and add my own touches here and there.
Roberta is right. This is a very easy recipe that makes a big generous batch of soup that is absolutely lovely to eat.
The only thing that really takes time is making roasted garlic. I had roasted some the day before with these beautiful grape tomatoes.
You begin the soup-making process by sauteing the roasted garlic with onions and celery. Then you cover the pot for three minutes. I did deviate a little here, I added some oil from my sundried tomato jar to once again boost the tomato-y flavour and add depth.
The next part is so easy! You just throw in two 28 ounce cans of tomatoes and a bunch of spices. Seriously, that’s it. I did not add the water, I personally did not want to dilute the flavour at all.
I could not leave those tomatoes whole like that so I mashed it all up with a potato masher. You bring the soup to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. I did not find everything to be very softened at this point so I let it go for 30 minutes altogether and then removed the bay leaf. I tasted the soup and found that it needed a lot of salt and pepper. I added a little, stirred, tasted. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. It is shocking how much salt is necessary for a good soup but I had bought cans of no-sodium-added tomatoes so I really had to keep seasoning. It still lacked something so I added about 1 tbsp of good balsamic vinegar. Now we’re talking!
I had just a dollop of heavy cream in the fridge which I added to the soup before blending to make it even more velvety and luscious.
Delicious! I am not even a huge fan of tomato soup but I am now a fan of this recipe, done my way. I had it for lunch yesterday with a cheesy onion bagel and green tea lemonade. Divine! I am going to make sure to have it again for lunch today, I enjoyed it that much. Even though most of the tomatoes in this recipe come from a can, this does not taste like canned tomato soup. It tastes like summer in a bowl with a peppery balsamic punch. Wow!!! Seriously tasty.
Sounds great. I love tomato soup. I’ll have to try it without the garlic (damn allergy). Possibly adding dill would be a good substitute for that 🙂
I love your addition of the sundried tomato oil and balsamic. Sounds like something I would do too!
Happy lunch!
You could use garlic powder instead Michelle. I think today I will add a dollop of goat cheese to the top. Glad you like my flavour profile! 🙂 Great minds and tummies, LOL.
Wow. I don’t think I added much salt to mine. But I did use a lot of spices so perhaps that made up for it. I LOVE your tweaks to the soup. I added mine to a blender and it was smooth as silk. I’m going to try more garlic next time too!
I love your creativity! I’m not there yet…
🙂
I really think it’s because my tomatoes were sodium-free that I had to add so much. Thanks Roberta! Well you were my inspiration. Yes, the blender is an absolute must for making this rich and creamy. I think I would double the garlic the next time I make it too, can’t have too much garlic. 🙂
You are getting there! I love what you make and your photos? Beautiful.
you really found the need to add salt? Hmm .. makes me wonder about the jars of tomatoes I have downstairs. I make tomato soup, sauce, tomato everything to use it all up before the next batch of tomatoes are ready in the garden (which btw are just sprouting in newspaper pots on the kitchen table right now). Anyhoo; I always find them salty. Its just garden tomatos canned with toamtoe juice and water. I always wondered why i never had to ad salt to the lasagna or anything. I thought it was just the way tomatoes “were” you know?
Wow, roasted grape tomatoes and a bit of cream, yummy, you were deliciously creative with this recipe. BTW how’s the new blender working out for you?
What a great recipe! I want to make this! Only I would probably use fresh and not canned tomatoes. Do you think it would work?
Twyla, canned tomatoes usually have salt in them but the ones I picked up didn’t it. Soups need salt, at least I find that to be the case.
Ava, going to be putting up a review of the blender next week. I love it! Very happy with it so thumbs up.
Cooking Rookie, absolutely! There is nothing better than fresh tomatoes for a soup, this is just a good alternative when you don’t have any yet.