Homemade Tomato Soup

(Note: This is another transfer of a recipe from my old personal blog with some small modifications.)

Back when I was a child, my mother used to buy huge amounts of tomatoes when they were in season and "stew" them for canning. I'm not sure how she did this as the process was of no interest to me, but I only knew the result was vats of smelly, wet, over-cooked tomatoes and jar after jar of them which were put in the cellar for later consumption. When she used those tomatoes, it was always in a manner which pretty much ended up with us simply eating the tomatoes as they were right out of the jar. I think one of her favorite ways was to slop some of them on bread with nothing else.

I love tomatoes and I eat fresh ones with a little salt and pepper several times a week. They're very good for you because they're full of vitamin C. When I was a kid, I'd eat them like apples (and without salt). However, my mother's methods of preparing and serving canned tomatoes put me off of them for decades. Since fresh tomatoes are relatively expensive in Tokyo (about 80-100 yen each unless you get a good deal and buy them in bulk), using fresh ones for cooking can get really pricey. Last week, I saw a can of "Frana" Italian tomatoes imported for Meiji for 100 yen and decided that I'd make a soup recipe I ran across via the Kitchn web site.

As is so often the case though, modifications were necessary because of differences in ingredients in Tokyo, free time, my personal tastes, and expenses. I'm not a fan of celery, and it costs a fortune here anyway, and I can't buy canned chicken soup stock nor get my hands on a whole chicken to make some (or even chicken with bones other than tiny little pigeon-sized drumsticks). I decided to omit the celery and substitute chicken consomme soup for the stock. I think it may actually have turned out more flavorful for using the dehydrated cubes instead of real stock. I used Knorr (the type sold in green and yellow boxes with a white chicken graphic on it), but any type will probably do.

One of my students bought a case of Campbell's tomato soup at Costco awhile back and gave me two cans because it was too sweet for her. I'm not a big fan of Campbell's soup, but at least I have sampled it recently enough to compare this homemade stuff to the usual dreck and this is much, much nicer. We had the soup with grilled sandwiches, but I think it'd be really tasty with bread or toast for breakfast.

Tomato Soup:

• 1 tbsp. Canola oil
• 1/2 large onion or a whole small one
• 1/2 medium carrot
• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• 1 tsp. dried parsley
• 1 large garlic clove, peeled, and sliced into quarters
• 2 cubes chicken consomme
• 2 cups water
• dash (about 1/4 tsp.) coarse black pepper
• 1 fresh tomato, cut into quarters or eighths
• salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp. sugar (optional)
  
• cream to garnish (optional)

Heat a heavy bottom sauce pan over medium heat, add the oil and saute the onion and garlic clove until just softened. Add the carrot and fresh tomato (if using) and cook for about a minute. Stir in the parsley and add the tomatoes. Add the water, sugar (if using) and consomme cubes to the pot. Add the black pepper and simmer the soup until the carrots are tender. This should take about a half hour.

Remove the pot from the stove and use a hand mixer or food processor to purée the vegetables to an even consistency. A hand mixer is better because you can directly work in the pot and it's not as messy (and the soup stays hotter). Taste the soup and add salt as you feel is necessary (I added 1/2 tsp.). Depending on how potent you like your soup, add cream directly to the soup or stir in just a bit as a swirl garnish when you serve the soup (I usually don't bother). I added two tablespoons of cream, but the original recipe called for up to 1/4 cup. Frankly though, the cream isn't necessary and can be omitted to save calories.

The fresh tomato adds a nice dimension to the flavor and ramps up the relative tomato flavor, but isn't necessary. I usually make this only with canned tomatoes because that's what I have on hand. That being said, it is a little nicer with a fresh tomato added in.

I stand by my original conclusion that drinking this helps one fight off a cold! And I don't need to tell anyone that this is fabulous with grilled cheese sandwiches.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Corn Potage Soup

Note: updated on January 3, 2010 to allow for the use of canned corn

No, all of my recipes will not be for soup. I've just been in a soup sort of mood as of late. This is a bit peculiar because it's been so damn hot and one would think that drinking hot soup (not to mention preparing it) would not be appealing, but there you go. Part of the thing is that homemade soups are so healthy and taste so much better than store-bought soup that it's hard to resist the urge to have them. The urge to make them is utterly resistible because of the humidity let off by the process, but I'm a trooper.

For those who don't know, corn potage is a corn and potato soup with a milk or cream base. I never had it when I lived in the U.S., but it's popular in Japan. You can buy it as a powdered soup, and I have actually done this many times in the past. In fact, I sent Shawn a packet of said instant soup more than a year ago, and he never sampled it despite our shared reverence for corn. This recipe does involve some ritual sacrifice of corn on the cob, but I'm sure the corn gods understand.

This is a hearty soup and can substitute for a starchy side dish like potatoes or rice. In Japan, a lot of people have corn soup with bread for breakfast.

Corn Potage Soup:

• 1 large potato (peeled and cut into small cubes)
• 2 ears of corn on the cob (corn cut off, cobs saved) or 1 standard-size (14 oz./400 gram) can of corn with juice
  
• 1 small or 1/2 very large onion (diced)
• 1.5 cups milk (I used low-fat, but any is okay)
• 1 cup water (omit this water if you're using canned corn)
  
• 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 cubes chicken consomme
• butter (enough to coat the bottom of your soup pot)
• salt, pepper (to taste)

Heat a medium-size soup pot and melt butter over medium heat. Add the diced onions and minced garlic and cook until softened and the garlic becomes fragrant. If it starts to burn, turn down the heat. Stir in the corn kernels and diced potato and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the milk, water (don't add water if using canned corn!), chicken consomme cubes, and pepper. Heat until the consomme has dissolved, stirring occasionally. Place the corn cobs into the soup, heat to boiling, cover, and reduce the heat so that the covered pot is vigorously simmering. If you're using canned sweet corn, dump the entire can, juice and all into the pot instead of using the corn on the cob and cobs. Simmer until the potatoes are cooked through (about 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your cubes). Stir about every 10 minutes.

Remove the cobs. Cool the soup and pour it into a blender or use a hand mixer to puree to a smooth consistency. Note that the blender will do a better job, though the hand mixer is easier because you can puree it in the soup pot. Taste the pureed soup and add salt as necessary to enhance the taste.

I had to add about 1/2 tsp. salt to mine, but I think that the amount you add will be very dependent on your consomme flavoring. Some have a lot of salt in them already and others do not. Add more potatoes to make a thicker soup (or, if it's after the fact, add some dehydrated potato flakes/instant mashed potato buds to thicken it), or reduce the water or milk.

This is a great soup to have with bread or with croutons that you allow to get soggy in the soup.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Greetings, great multitude of Carl food blog readers. I'm sure you're all warmly welcoming me to Shawn's little corner of the internet. He's kindly permitted me to breath some life into his wheezing blog while he continues to procrastinate on posting his own content. Of course, he didn't grant me admin privileges so I can't go back and insert insults into his posts (though he can do so for mine so I guess I had better watch my mouth).

At any rate, I no longer have a personal blog so I'm going to use Carl's Kitchen as my dumping ground for recipes that I want to keep. The difference between my posts and Shawn's are that his are glorious failures for the most part and I'm only going to be noting my successes. That doesn't mean I don't have my own spectacular failures, but rather that I don't have the time to note them for posterity (not that Shawn has the time either, as is evidenced by his lack of posting).

At any rate, I'm going to start with this roasted red pepper soup recipe which I modified based on a recipe at eCurry. Though this soup was really good, I have to warn anyone who tries it that I got sore spots under my tongue and my gums ached after eating this a few times. I'm guessing it was a bit too much capsicum for me, but I ate it anyway because it was damn tasty.

Here's my recipe:

• canola oil sufficient to cover the bottom of the pan
• 2 Welsh onions (white part only), sliced thinly
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 medium to small red peppers (roasted and sliced)
• 1 can Swanson chicken stock
• 1/4 tsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
• salt to taste
• 2-3 tbsp yogurt cheese*
• croutons for serving
  

Coat the bottom of a heavy-bottomed soup pot with the oil then cook the Welsh onions and garlic gloves over medium heat until softened. If they start to stick or burn, add a little water and lower the heat. Add the roasted red peppers and cook for about 5 more minutes. Add the chicken stock, salt, and pepper and heat to a boil then cover, turn the heat to low, and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Allow the soup to cool to the point where it is safe to handle in your blender, then put it in the blender and blitz it until it is smooth. Add the yogurt cheese and blitz it until the blend is smooth. Serve warm or cold with croutons.

I had this both warm and cold and slightly preferred it warm. I'm not sure how it'll reheat though given the yogurt component. I'd recommend only reheating it to a point of being barely hot. It's a very smooth soup with a velvety texture and probably could double as a sauce for chicken in a pinch.

*Yogurt cheese is plain yogurt which has been allowed to drain such that most of the whey has separated out. It is thick and resembles sour cream in texture and somewhat in flavor. I usually make it by suspending a coffee filter full of yogurt affixed to the top of a glass with a rubber band overnight.

by Shari (Orchid64)