Last year I found a great recipe on Food Network for a roasted tomato soup: https://hydrangeahippo.com/zucchini-lasagna/
When growing your own garden, either you have no tomatoes (what happened to my green thumb this year?!) or your tomatoes all get ripe at the same time, like they did for my mom. Good news for me! It means I get a phone call asking if I want to come pick as many tomatoes as I want…um yeah, I sure do! One of my fave childhood memories was eating sliced tomatoes from the vine with salt and pepper. I thought all tomatoes tasted like the ones I ate as a kid. What a rude awakening when I bought my first tomato at the store in my twenties – gross!
With all of these tomatoes, we have tried lots of things – canning them, making pasta sauce and canning that, making LOTS of sliced tomato plates and salads, giving them away to people, cutting them up and putting them in store bought pasta sauce to make it taste better… we started running out of ideas. You'd think we would plant fewer plants…
So that is where I started looking for tomato recipes last year on Food Network. After making a recipe once, I think I “got it” and don't need to look at the recipe again. I mean, it isn't like I cook a whole lot. Well, that is changing, but it isn't like I cooked a lot in the last 7 or 8 years, let's say that. Yes Martha, I am not an expert. But I do taste my food and my family tastes it so I don't know what more test kitchen work it needs…
But I digress.
Why roast only tomatoes? Why can't we roast carrots and butternut squash and other yummy, delicious veggies to make this soup? I had a lot of tomatoes but I had even more baby carrots in my fridge that needed to be used and a husband who does not like carrots. And, the original recipe asked for the tomatoes to be seeded. Um, hey, that is alot of work and the acid from the tomatoes kind of eats at your hands after a while. No thanks.
The other challenge is that now we are a paleo family and well, that is kind of a strict diet. Most recipes are null and void because they have something non-human in them like corn oil (hey, don't get me on my soap box). And that is how my recipe was born. It is paleo-friendly, yummy (kids licked their bowls), and easy to make!
Roasted Tomato and Carrot Soup
Ingredients:
- Tomatoes – quartered with stems removed (about 1lb)
- Carrots – baby or cut and peeled (about 1lb)
- 1 Large Onion, chopped in large pieces
- 3-4 Cloves of Garlic, Crushed
- 16 -32 ounces of Chicken Stock – I like Kitchen Basics because it is not pumped full of fake stuff
- 4-8 tbsp Olive Oil
- 8-12 Ounces of Heavy Whipping Cream
- Salt and Pepper
- Shredded Cheddar cheese, about 1 cup
- Chopped Chives (garnish)
Heat the oven to 375° F. Spread the carrots, chopped onions, and chopped tomatoes on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil and crushed garlic to coat. Roast in the oven about 30 minutes or until the tips of the vegetables star to caramelize. Put the vegetables into a stock pot and add 16 ounces of Chicken Stock. Heat on Medium on heat to a low boil. Reduce the heat and blend with an emulsion blender until smooth. You can add more water or chicken stock to make the consistency thinner if you like. Add 8-12 ounces of Heavy Whipping Cream to taste and continue to heat until the soup is warmed through. Then add Salt and Pepper to taste. Garnish with shredded cheddar cheese and chopped chives or a dollop of sour cream. Serves 5.
I hope you enjoyed today's post! Do you think you might try this recipe?
