RECIPE: Roasted Tomato Soup

My husband proclaimed this was the best tomato soup he's ever eaten!  It's also the easiest tomato soup I've ever made,  MUCH easier than the recipe for my favorite tomato soup (which I will post soon).

Original Recipe: Tyler Florence Roasted Tomato Soup

The first time I made this soup it was late at night when the tomatoes came out of the oven and I was too tired to finish the recipe so I popped them back in the oven and left them there overnight.  The next morning, they were beautifully caramelized and made the most amazing soup!  It was also much easier doing all the prep on one day and finishing the soup the next.

I have successfully canned this soup (in a PRESSURE CANNER) but need to leave a good 2 - 3" headroom.  I no longer can this soup.. See my note below.

The soup is delicious with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Roasted Tomato Soup w Pistou Cream 

Serves 4 

Ingredients

2.5 pounds fresh tomatoes (regular, roma, or cherry or a combination)
6 cloves garlic peeled
1 medium onion or 1 large leek or a combination of the two, sliced
1/2 c. ghee, melted
Salt and pepper (I use cayenne)
1/4 c. demiglace*, OR 1/4 c roasted peppers, OR 2 T. balsamic, OR 1 T. pesto BE CREATIVE!
2 bay leaves or 1/4t. ground bay leaves
4 T. butter or ghee, softened

For serving:
1/4 c pistou (optional)
3/4 c. heavy cream (my husband prefers it plain, without cream or pistou)

Directions

Preheat oven to 450.

Wash the tomatoes, core them and slice in half.  Spread the tomatoes, onions and garlic in a baking dish.  Drizzle with 1/2 c. ghee and salt and pepper.

Roast for 30 minutes or until caramelized.  Open oven door to release some of the heat, close it back up and leave the pan in the oven overnight.

before roasting and after caramelization

Transfer everything** to a blender (yes, including the skins and seeds), add the demiglace, bay leaves, salt and pepper, and butter/ghee.  Blend until smooth and creamy.  

In my blender (a Blendtec) I press the "soup" button and, after 3 minutes of blending on high, the soup is smooth and warm enough to eat.  If your isn't warm, heat it gently on the stove (it will sputter!).

**The tomatoes will exude a lot of liquid while they roast.  The more of this liquid you use, the thinner the soup will be. If you use it all, you may need to blend it in two batches.  If I plan to serve the soup immediately, I use all the liquid.  If I'm going to store it, I have serious space limitations so I don't use it all, which makes a thicker soup.  When I reheat it, I thin it with either milk, cream, broth, or water. 

For Serving:  LIGHTLY whip the cream until it just starts to thicken, stir in the pistou (don't stir too vigorously or it will turn to butter!) and drop several tablespoons onto each bowl of soup.  You can stir it in if you prefer but I like the juxtaposition of the hot soup with the cold cream.

(I have also eaten the leftovers cold, sort of like gazpacho, sprinkled with basil chiffonade.)

* when I make this for vegetarians I use 2-4 T. roasted red peppers instead of demiglace.  
(I've never tried roasting the peppers with the tomatoes because I always remove the skins and seeds from the peppers.  If you try it, please LMK how it turns out!)

I have also made this without the demiglace, and without the additional butter, and using ghee instead of the additional butter, and it is fine both ways.  It's richer with the additional butter/ghee, but if you're watching your calories it's still delicious without them.  You shouldn't skimp on the ghee used when they're roasting, though. 

Bulk Batch:

4 large onions, sliced 1/4" thick
35 medium tomatoes or 25 large ones
3-4 heads garlic
1 c. ghee
3/4 c demiglace (I've used both veal, chicken, and vegetarian - use whatever you have)
3 t. salt
3/4 c butter
1.5 t. jalapeno or cayenne powder
1.5 t. powdered bay leaf

Preheat oven to 450 (convection 425)
Arrange onion in large roasting pan
Core tomatoes and arrange them, cored-side down, over the onions
Put one garlic clove in each of the spaces between the tomatoes
Melt the ghee and spoon it over all making sure you get some on each tomato and garlic
Roast for 25 minutes.
Rotate the pan and roast for another 25 minutes.
Turn off the heat and leave in oven until cool.

In three equal batches, adding 1/4 c butter, 1/4 cup demiglace, 1 t. salt, 1/2 t. jalapeno and 1/2 t. bay leaf to each batch, puree in high-speed blender for 3 minutes until smooth.

I no longer can this -  I had to leave too much headspace to get the jars to seal, and they took up too much space on my shelf.  I now store the jars in the freezer. 

Freeze, or transfer to quart canning jars and process 90 minutes at 10# pressure (use THIS GUIDE to adjust for your altitude.  Yes, the link is for canning meat, and that is the correct one to use because of the fat and onions in the recipe.) 
Do NOT use the pressure/time for canning tomatoes!.  
Pressure can only!!   DO NOT WATER-BATH CAN!  (Seriously, you can die if you do!)


35 medium tomatoes made 7 quarts, each one filled with 600ml or 6 quarts filled with 800ml.  
25 large tomatoes, pictured below, made 12 quarts!  

The photos below are from my last bulk batch
The pan is a huge 18" x 12":

Onions, cored tomatoes, garlic before roasting.

After roasting 1 hour, then resting in warm oven for 4 hours!