Roasted Tomato Soup

Today was a beautiful fall day in Philly. Shortly after I woke up I went for a 6 mile run through the city - down to the art museum, along the Schuylkill river trail, then back Pine Street, one of my favorites. I worked up quite an appetite and spent a good part of my run thinking of what to make. With a little crisp in the air, I decided to try a recipe for Roasted Tomato Soup I had been eying on The Italian Dish blog for a while.


I really enjoyed this recipe and made a few adaptations based off the ingredients I had. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Roasted Tomato Soup


Ingredients:

• 4 pounds Roma tomato's, cut in half lengthwise
• 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 cups vegetable stock (original recipe calls for chicken stock - but since I stopped eating meat, I have been substituting all recipes with veggie stock and it's just as delish)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Place tomato's, cut side up on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Add unpeeled garlic. Drizzle 3 tablespoons olive oil over tomato's and garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast tomato's for 1 hour. Let cool a bit, then peel garlic.
2. Cook onion, rosemary, sugar, 1 tablespoon olive oil and butter in pot over medium heat until onions are soft (about 5 minutes). Add tomato's, garlic and stock; simmer covered for about 20 minutes.
3. Place immersion blender in pot and puree the soup. ( the original recipe calls to strain the soup after blending to get rid of skins and seeds, but i pureed the soup enough to skip this step - I don't think it is necessary)
4. Add cream, salt and pepper to taste and heat until warm.

Top with Parmesan crisps.To make crisps, preheat oven to 325. line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Use a 2-3" biscuit cutter and place Parmesan in circle, carefully lifting cutter off to leave Parmesan in nice circles. Bake 8-9 minutes to allow cheese to melt thoroughly. Remove from oven. as cheese cools it will harden into a nice crisp.

Fresh Tomato's


Drizzled with Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper


Roasted Tomato's and Garlic


Tomato's simmering with broth and spices


Blending


Parmesean Crisps

Moroccan Vegetable Stew

After a hiatus for over a year, I am going to really really try to update my blog for a few reasons - one main one is I want a place where all of my go-to recipes will be electronically.

I didn't take a picture of this dish, but it was so delish you just have to trust me - and go make it!

Moroccan Vegetable Stew

Ingrediants:

• 1 medium butternut squash (about 2 pounds) peeled and cut into 1" pieces
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4" slices (I just used two snack size bags of the small carrots)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 can (15-19 oz) garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup prunes, chopped
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 to 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 1/2 cups water

Directions:
1. Sautee squash, carrot and onion in 1-2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat until the onions are clear (about 10 minutes)
2. Add remaining ingrediants
3. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until all vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.
4. Serve over couscous (if you don't have couscous, it is just as good without).

Recipe from: Good Housekeeping Cookbook