"If people could see how their food is produced, they would change how they eat."
--Michael Pollan
Seasonal Recipes
Fire Roasted Tomato Soup
A local restaurant is advertising Fire Roasted Tomato Soup. Sounds like a great way to use up some of my tomatoes, but how would I fire roast tomatoes? I contacted my Friend Mindy Merrell at CheaterChef.com, who is always looking for easy ways to make great food. She responded with, "those are fancy words, just grill the tomatoes." As I stood over the grill watching the tomato skins pop open, I realized how easy these were going to be to peel. The worst part about cooking with fresh tomatoes is, cutting an X in the tomato skin, dipping them in boiling water, then plunging them in cold water, before removing the peels. Grilling bypassed all these steps.
The soup did not have the smokey flavor that I expected from something fire roasted, so back to Mindy for help. She and RB Quinn have just released a book called Cheater BBQ, where they make great BBQ using liquid smoke in place of hours at the grill. So I added a little smoke to my soup and it turned out great.
olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalk celery, chopped
1 paprika pepper, minced
2 pounds fresh Roma tomatoes
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
4 roasted garlic cloves
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 tablespoon minced parsley
1 tablespoon minced basil
salt and pepper
Place the tomatoes on a piece of foil over the grates on your grill. Turn tomatoes every few minutes until the skins are slightly charred and begin to split open. Remove for grill and allow to cool before removing the peels.
In a medium size saucepan, over medium heat, sauté the onion, celery and pepper.
When the onion is translucent, add the tomatoes, broth, garlic, and smoke. Simmer on very low heat for 10 minutes.
Use a stick blender to puree the soup.
Add the parsley, basil, salt and pepper to taste, and simmer for about 10 minutes to allow the flavors to blend.
Serve with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.
Posted on October 29, 2008
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