What to do with all those Summer Tomatoes

I was gifted recently with quite a few heirloom tomatoes. Now I dearly love heirloom tomatoes after having success growing them the past couple of years. This year I didn't get them planted and have missed dearly having them at my disposable. When I received this wonderful gift of many different heirloom tomatoes I remembered going  to one of my most favorite blogs, Once Upon a Plate. Mari had also been gifted with some heirloom tomatoes and had done a post of a soup she had prepared for Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup. An Ina Garten recipe that Mari had tweaked to her own liking but it sounded delicious and when I received this fabulous gift it immediately brought to mind Mari's blog post. Now I have all of Ina Garten's cookbooks but had never prepared this recipe. What was I thinking?????

Here's what you do with wonderful and tasty Heirloom Tomato's besides making a Caprese Salad which is also delicious but this soup is quite honestly amazing. Now this soup can be made with any tomatoes but I think that the taste of Heirloom Tomatoes are so much more flavorful. Just my opinion???

Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup
serves 5 or 6

3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped red onions (2 onions)
2 carrots, unpeeled and chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
4 pounds vine-ripened tomatoes, coarsely chopped (5 large)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup packed chopped fresh basil leaves
3 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream
Julienned fresh basil leaves, for garnish
Parmesan Toasts (recipe follows) or croutons

Heat the olive oil in a large. heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and carrots and saute' for about 10 minutes, until very tender. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, sugar, tomato paste, basil, chicken stock, salt, and pepper and stir well. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 30 to 40 minutes, until the tomatoes are very tender.

Add the cream to the soup and process it through a food mill into a bowl, discarding only the dry pulp that's left. Reheat the soup over low heat just until hot and serve with julienned basil leaves and/or Parmesan toasts.

Parmesan toasts

1 French Baguette
Good olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Slice the baguette diagonally into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Make as many slices as you like to serve with the soup.

Place the slices on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle a thick layer of grated Parmesan on the toasts and bake for 5 to 10 minutes, until the toasts are lightly browned. Cool to room temperature.
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Now I didn't make the Parmesan toasts for my garnish but I will the next time I prepare this delicious soup.

I think it is always important when preparing a recipe to gather all your ingredients and prep each ingredient before beginning.

 

 

These tomatoes looked and smelled soooooooo yummy as they were cooking.

 

 

Pared with my homemade Pimento Cheese sandwiches it made for a simple dinner for two.

 

 

 

 

I took Mari's lead on this and since I had it in my herb garden I did add some thyme to the recipe. And since I was serving the soup with a sandwich I chose to top the soup with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of Black Truffle Oil instead of the Parmesan Toasts or croutons as Ina suggests. The Black Truffle Oil put this soup over the top IMO.

 

 

 

If you have access to some Heirloom Tomatoes I highly recommend this recipe. It is quite simply delicious.

 





It's Friday and time for Foodie Friday hosted by Designs by Gollum. Thank you for visiting my blog and please do come again. If you try this recipe you won't be disappointed.