Roasted tomato soup is the natural beauty of fall recipes – a few simple ingredients play together effortlessly to create what is easily my seasonal favorite. I’m not exaggerating when I say you’ll be blown away by the richness and sweetness of this soup that only consists of vegetables and a little olive oil, salt and pepper! This recipe need not be exact, but for hearty, naturally sweet soup, you’ll want to use ripe tomatoes and allow plenty of time for roasting.
Making soup usually looks like this: I go out and pick whatever tomatoes are available from the garden – I have a lot of Amish Paste and cherry tomatoes right now. I bring them in, wash them and quarter them, putting the pieces (seeds, skin and all) in a 11″x15″ glass baking dish or dutch oven as I go. Then I quarter an onion or two, spread the pieces over the tomatoes, and add a few cloves of garlic, left whole. I drizzle the veggies with olive oil and grind some salt and black pepper. Then into the oven it goes at 350F for one or two hours – whatever brings me right up to dinner time. Minutes before we’re ready to eat, I pour the contents of the dish into a large pot, add some fresh basil or prepared pesto, and blend with an immersion blender – an invaluable tool that makes easy work of purees like this – until nice and smooth. (You can also blend this in small batches in a blender, but be careful – blending hot liquids can cause explosions if you over-fill the pitcher!) Optionally, add vegetable or chicken broth to preference. The final step: taste and adjust salt and pepper as necessary. Serve with some sourdough bread, and you have a super nutritious, delicious, from-scratch, seasonal, easy and cheap meal! I don’t think there are many recipes that hit every one of those qualifiers! If you aren’t growing tomatoes at home, now is a great time to find them at your local farmers market. I hope you enjoy this fall beauty – let me know if it becomes your favorite too!
The Recipe: Roasted Tomato Soup
6 servings
Prep time 10 minutes
Passive time 1-2 hours
Ingredients
5 pounds tomatoes; amount is flexible
1 large onion; amount is flexible
3 cloves garlic; amount is flexible
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup basil leaves or 2 tbsp pesto
1/2 cup heavy cream, optional
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F. Quarter tomatoes and lay out in 11x15" baking pan or other baking dish. There's no need to remove seeds or skin. Peel and quarter onion, lay over tomatoes. Peel garlic and add to dish whole.
Drizzle tomatoes, onion and garlic with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake for 1-2 hours.
Pour contents of baking dish into large stove pot, add basil or pesto, and blend with an immersion blender until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. You can also blend in small batches in a blender, but be very careful - if over-full, contents will explode everywhere!
Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Optionally add the cream to the pot or put a splash into each bowl for extra creaminess and a nice touch. Enjoy!