Roasted Tomato and Garlic Soup
Since I began canning in the beginning of the year, the one item that has received the most positive feedback and most requests for a recipe is my roasted tomato and garlic soup. This recipe is super easy, relatively quick, very healthy and uses only 10 ingredients that are very easy to get your hands on. The only specialized piece of equipment needed is a immersion (stick) blender, but a regular blender works as well, just might be a little messier and require a steady hand when pouring hot soup. This recipe is super versatile, as a hot soup, a cold soup, a loose sauce for pasta, or even dip for breadsticks or fried mozzarella.
I got my hands on some gorgeous on the vine tomatoes from Canada. Pretty sure these were hydroponic, because it’s rare to get such beautiful and flavorful tomatoes in April.
Additionally, 3 heads of garlic and some fresh thyme.
This recipe yielded 10 16oz jars but you can modify the ratios to your needs and taste, this is simply a rough guide- I am a firm believer that you should be experimenting in the kitchen and constantly tasting and adjusting your recipe.
Halve the tomatoes, cutting out the stem core, also halve the garlic, and add a few sprigs of thyme. Drizzle with olive oil, (oil the pan as well) and season with salt and pepper.
I roasted these off in the oven at 350ºF for about 45 min. You may need to raise the heat towards the end to get the desired roast.
When the tomatoes and garlic are roasting in the oven, use the time to prep your other ingredients:
3 Tbs of olive oil
3 small onions (diced finely)
1 lage carrot (shredded, microplane is even better)
basil (optional)
salt and pepper
12oz tomato paste
3Tbs sugar
40-48oz of vegetable stock
In a large soup pot or dutch oven, add all of the ingredients except the soup stock and mix into a soup base paste to cook off on medium-low heat.
Once those beautiful tomatoes are roasted off add them right to the soup pot. Use a potato masher or wooden spoon to break up the tomatoes and get all those delicious juices out.
Remove the garlic skins and add the cloves to the pot, shake loose the thyme from the stems, and combine in the pot with veggie stock.
Blend until the soup is at your preferred consistency. (Photo is pre-blend)
More veggie stock means a looser soup.
From here season to taste with salt, pepper, and sugar until the acidity of the tomatoes is balanced.
I find this recipe to be best with a gooey grilled cheese sandwich, but as I mentioned above its wildly versatile and very easy to make. If you can this soup you do not need to freeze it. The natural acidity makes it shelf stable when properly vacuum sealed.
A fantastic comfort food with simple ingredients that when combined the right way is packed with flavor.
Enjoy!