What’s better than tomato soup on a cold and rainy day? The problem is that the tomatoes are best in the summer when I am not interested in eating hot soup. I’ve developed a great recipe that allows you to make a bunch in the summer when tomatoes are at their best, and keep it in the feezer for those long winter months.
I bought a 25 lb. box to use for canning, however some of them were not going to work out for canning, since they needed a lot more time to ripen. Instead, I used them up for my tomato soup stash in the freezer. You can use any tomatoes you like, and you don’t need to peel them to get this recipe done! Even in the tomato off season, you can use Romas or “vine ripened” to make this recipe Here’s how you do it.
- 1/2 c olive oil – divided
- 1 medium onion roughly chopped about 1/2 cup
- 8 lbs cored and chopped fresh tomato
- 1/4 cup of tomato paste
- 1/2 head of roasted garlic (recipe at the bottom)
- 2 tbs butter
- 1-2 tbs sugar
- 1/2 stick butter (as needed)
- Salt/pepper (crushed red pepper optional)
Optional finishing:
- Parmesan cheese
- Heavy cream
- Basil
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Heat 1/4 olive oil in Dutch oven or any oven safe soup pot. Add chopped onion and brown on medium heat for 5-7 minutes. Add the tomato paste and let it cook long enough to caramelize the paste. Stir in chopped tomatoes and 2 tbs salt. Add in some crused red pepper here if you want to spice it up a bit. Stir in an additional 1/4 c olive oil. Place uncovered in the oven for one hour.
Remove from oven and squeeze in roasted garlic to taste (or skip it if you are not a fan). Add the butter and sugar and allow them to melt in. Blend with hand held or standard blender to your desired smoothness. Note: Be sure to blend in batches with a standard blender – this stuff can be hot! Return the soup to the pan.
Add chicken stock and/or heavy cream to get the consistency you like. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and a little more sugar if the soup is to acidic. Enjoy with some fresh baked ciabatta bread or a grilled cheese of course!
Freezing: I freeze my soups in 2 cup serving containers, for up to 6-8 months. This doesn’t last long around here. I don’t add any cream if I am going to freeze the soup. I add that when I reheat it. Same process for the cheese and basil…wait for reheating.
Roasted garlic – cut the top 1/4 off of a whole head of garlic. Place the garlic on a sheet of foil. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Wrap up the garlic and place in the oven with the soup base. Use as much as you like in the soup, or you can leave it out.
Amy’s Kitchen 