Summertime Soup - Gazpacho

Gazpacho is a must for a hot summer day. It's refreshing and cooling, and incredibly easy to make.  I like to make a batch of it to keep in the fridge to have for a light dinner, or even to bring to work for a midday snack.   The food processor does all the work for you. I puree the veggies in groups to get the right consistency and then mix everything together.  To help the food processor along I dice all the veggies into a large dice so they get chopped up evenly.  These are the veggies that I used this time, but you can play around with it and use whatever looks good. To make this for company top each bowl with a few roasted shrimp and drizzle with a good quality extra virgin olive oil. I like my gazpacho a little chunky, but pulse the veggies as much or as little as you like.

Summertime Gazpacho
2 1/2 pounds roma tomatoes, diced
2 large cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced
1 jalapeno, seeds removed and diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 handful of cilantro, stems removed
1 handful of bail leaves
1 -2 tbsp salt, to taste
2 tsps pepper
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 lemon, juiced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions: 
Put the tomatoes in the food processor and pulse until finely chopped/pureed. Put in a large bowl.  Put the cucumbers in the food processor - pulse until desired consistency.  Add to the tomatoes.  Put the jalapeño, garlic, cilantro and basil in the food processor at the same time - puree until finely chopped.  Place in the same bowl.  Mix all the veggies together - add the salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Allow the gazpacho to sit and let the flavors meld together for a few hours. After the gazpacho sits for a while taste and add more salt/pepper as necessary.

Back to Basics - Tomato Soup

Tomato soup is one of the best comfort food, and luckily its incredibly easy and quick to make.  My version is a little lighter than your average tomato soup - it doesn't use any cream and uses fresh tomatoes instead of canned.  If you want a richer soup, you can add extra tomato paste and add cream at the end of the cooking time.  

Lightened-up Tomato Soup

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 rib celery, chopped

2 stalks/fronds of fennel, chopped (these are the tops of the fennel bulb -- its a great way to use the top of the fennel which has tons of flavor instead of just using the fennel bulb)

2 pounds of roma tomatoes, chopped (get the ripest tomatoes you can since they are the base of this soup)
1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
6 cloves of garlic, roasted (to roast the garlic, wrap the cloves in aluminum foil and top with a little olive oil and salt/pepper. tightly wrap the garlic in the foil and roast at 350 degrees until the garlic is completely tender and browned, approx. 30 minutes)
2 quarts of vegetable or chicken stock

use this part of the fennel for soup

Directions


To make the soup, first sauté the onions, fennel, carrots and celery in about 2 tbsp of olive oil. Sauté until the vegetables become translucent, about 10 minutes.  

the vegetables should go from looking like this....

to looking like this

Add the tomato paste and coat all the veggies in it.  Allow the tomato paste to cook, constantly stirring it for about 2 minutes.  Add the fresh thyme and about 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper to the pot, stirring. Add the the roasted garlic.

the garlic should be browned, like this

Add the tomatoes and the stock. 

Bring the soup up to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer.  Allow the soup to simmer for at least 1/2 an hour, but if you have the time let it simmer for anywhere between 1-2 hours.  Use an immersion blender and puree the soup until its completely smooth.  Taste for seasoning - you might need to add extra salt and pepper to it.  If you have fresh basil add it before you puree the soup for a fresh tomato/ basil soup 

Sometimes using fresh tomatoes can be tricky - if they aren't perfectly ripe your soup can end up a little bitter. You can always substitute two 24 oz cans of good quality whole tomatoes for the fresh tomatoes.  If your soup is a little bitter, you can add a little bit of sugar to it to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes. 

I heart samples

I love samples. They are some of my favorite things.  While I love going to Costco, the lines you have to wait in to get a sample chicken taquito are a bit frustrating.  So imagine my happiness when I went to a Bed Bath and Beyond that had a new foods market offering loads of samples with no lines.  One of the things that we sampled was a roasted red pepper soup made by Pacific Natural Foods.  It was amazing. Make Steve get his own sample and taste it amazing.  Walk back there when a new person was working the sample station and get a second sample amazing.

When we got home I decided to try to make it myself.  It's something I do a lot - eat something somewhere and then try to recreate it at home.  Fun, yes. Cheaper than buying it out, yes. A win win.  At BBB I scanned the ingredients list and figured the soup couldn't be too hard.  The ingredients were roasted red red peppers, tomatoes, and a few other things.  After picking up red peppers to roast, I set to making the soup.  Here's my first attempt at posting a recipe:

Ingredients

6 red peppers, 2 chopped and keep 4 whole 

1 medium size onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic (or more if you like)

3 cups chopped tomatoes (I had fresh and used them, otherwise use one can diced tomatoes)

6 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1/2 can tomato paste

2 carrots, chopped

2 tbsp sugar

1/3 cup cream (I used a fat-free cream to attempt to be healthy...although I don't really get how that's made)

Steps

Roast 4 of the bell peppers.  I broiled them because we have an electric stove, but you can also hold them over an open flame, turning them with tongs. Once the peppers are black and blistered all over, put them in a large bowl and cover them with plastic wrap.  Wait about 10 minutes or until the blackened skin peels easily from the peppers. Do not rinse them under water. If a little black stays on the peppers thats fine.

In a dutch oven or large pot sauté the onion, 2 chopped red peppers and 2 chopped carrots until tender.  Add the chopped roasted red peppers and garlic and continue to sauté.  Add salt (more than you think it needs) and pepper.  Add the chopped tomatoes. 

Add the tomato paste and sauté for about 5-7 minutes. Add the sugar and stir through.  Then add the chicken or vegetable stock. Bring it up to a boil and then simmer for about 1/2 hour (but it really can go for longer).  Turn off the heat and add the cream. 

Puree the soup until its completely smooth.  Taste the soup - it might need more salt...thats never a problem.  

It tasted very close to the Pacific Natural Foods soup..Just not as sweet, which I don't think is a bad thing. Enjoy!