Who doesn’t love grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup? Seriously. It’s my favorite lunch ever, and a go-to quick supper, too.
Last summer, among the tomato goods I canned or put up in the freezer—including Sun Gold Tomato Sauce and Spiced Cherry Tomato Jam—I wound up with two containers of fresh tomato puree that weren’t destined for the sauce pot. Fresh tomato puree freezes beautifully, and makes a great addition to soup or sauce; it tastes so much brighter and fresher than canned tomato puree.
Last week, I fancied a grilled-cheese-tomato-soup supper, so I took a container of puree out of the freezer and roasted up some cherry tomatoes, carrots and onions to make a super-quick soup. When you start with great fresh ingredients, you don’t really have to fuss to come up with something tasty.
Roasted veg + stock/broth/puree + blender = deliciousness.
quick tomato soup
makes about 4 cups
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
4 baby onions (or 1 small onion) cut into wedges
3 carrots, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sprig of fresh tarragon
Sprig of fresh thyme
3 cups tomato puree (see Note)
Kosher salt and finely ground pepper
Preheat oven to 400°; line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. On the baking sheet, toss the carrots with about 1/2 tablespoon olive oil; season with salt. Arrange the carrots on one end of the baking sheet. Roast 10 minutes. To the middle of the baking sheet add the onions with a drizzle of olive oil. Place the cherry tomatoes on the other side of the baking sheet. Season onions and tomatoes with salt; nestle herb sprigs into the tomatoes. Roast 20 minutes, until carrots are tender. Transfer the vegetables to a large saucepan (discard the herb sprigs). Add the tomato puree and a Parmesan rind, if you have one. Bring the soup to a strong simmer; partially cover, lower the heat to a gentle simmer and cook 20 minutes until the vegetables are totally soft. Remove the Parmesan rind. Use a regular or immersion blender to puree the soup to a texture you like.
Note: To make fresh tomato puree, set a food mill over a large bowl. Quarter 4 large tomatoes and run them through the food mill to extract the pulp, leaving the seeds and skins behind. Alternately, blend quartered tomatoes in a food processor until they're juicy and strain through a sieve to remove seeds and skins.
