Eat Well ~ Organic Roasted Tomato and Carrot Soup
With the rain and cold chill once again in the air I decided to make yet another version of homemade tomato soup. This one calls for the tomatoes getting peeled and roasted along with the addition of carrots.
While I wasn’t too sure about the process of peeling and roasting tomatoes on a busy weeknight, I figured, eh, how hard can it be? Turns out it was super simple and dinner was on the table in less than an hour from start to finish. And it was delicious!!
What makes this soup organic is using all organic ingredients, which I happen to have on hand. If you don’t, then by all means use what you have and know that it is still a healthy whole food meal you are making here and don’t worry too much about the specifics.
Another bit of advice I have is to invest in a good quality French oven. You can find various brands and qualities, but buy one that will stand up to years of cooking. I use this one a lot and bought it on sale at an outlet store with a coupon! It has already paid for itself by giving us perfectly cooked meals that have come out of it over the years. I loved it so much I bought another one for making larger recipes.
Organic Roasted Tomato and Carrot Soup
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons - butter
1/2 cup – extra virgin olive oil
4 pounds – tomatoes ( I used organic on the vine, but any organic tomato will work)
1 teaspoon – salt (coarse salt is best, you can even try a seasoned variety)
1 teaspoon – pepper (fresh ground is best)
several sprigs – fresh thyme, rosemary or oregano (I would choose one, thyme is my favorite for this, but if you want to mix go right ahead!)
1 – med/large – yellow onion, diced
5 – medium carrots, diced
3 – cloves garlic, minced
2 cups – vegetable broth
1/2 cup – heavy cream
Preheat your oven to 400° degrees.
Put a large pot of water on the stove (enough to hold all the tomatoes) and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, place the tomatoes, stems removed, into the boiling water for about 1 minute. Not any longer or they will turn to mush!
Remove the tomatoes to cool off to the touch and then peel off the skins, cut in half vertically and place face down on a large sheet pan.
Salt and pepper the tomatoes and then spray or drizzle with most of the olive oil. Reserve approximately two tablespoons – doesn’t have to be exact, for cooking the veggies in the French oven. Then place several sprigs of your chosen herb over the tomatoes before you pop them into the oven.
Roast the tomatoes in the oven for 30 minutes.
While the tomatoes are roasting, prepare the celery, carrots, onion and garlic as stated in the recipe above.
Place the French oven on the stove top over medium heat, add the butter and the olive oil, melting the butter and warming the oil.
Add your diced onion, celery, carrots and garlic to the pot and cook for about 15 minutes until they begin to soften. Again, not having to be exact.
Once the tomatoes are finished roasting, remove the sprigs of herbs and place the tomatoes into the pot of diced veggies.
Add the vegetable stock to the pot and give everything a good stir.
Cook at a simmer for about 15 more minutes until the vegetable are all softened. I use the carrot as a gauge since that is the firmest veggie in the pot. Once they are ready, off the heat and puree the soup with an immersion blender.
If you do not have this amazing tool, you can opt for adding the soup into a regular blender in batches and then placing it back into the original pot once you are finished. This is a kitchen tool that I highly recommend purchasing if you plan on making soup. And once you make a few batches you will find the easier and faster the process the more soup you’re inclined to make.
After the soup is blended to a nice smooth consistency, stir in the cream and thyme or some other fresh herb. Some people prefer basil with their tomato soup, I’m going to defer back to using the thyme for mine.
Ladle it out into your best soup bowl and serve with a nice crusty slice of toasted bread and raw organic cheese!
Bon appétit!
Live Well
