Kadesma,
Wish you had posted this last week when I made Tomato Soup.I looked all over DC for a recipe to make the soup from scratch.No store bought canned stuff,to be added later.I wanted from scratch,stuck with it.
Sour Cream...wow that never even crossed my mind to add.Excellent touch
Would you mind tweaking my recipe,please?
I went all through my cookbooks,even The Professional Chef.Got the basic idea.Nobody mentioned to cook the tomatoes down about a 1/2 to 1/4 before adding any additions.I made it up as I went.
30+Tomatoes,I had 37 in total
1 green Bell Pepper minced
2 Sweet Yellow Onions minced
1/2 cup of fresh Basil chopped
1/4 cup Celery Salt
1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt
1 Tablespoon of fresh Black Pepper
4 Tablespoons of Butter
1/4 cup of flour
2 Tablespoons of sugar
Tomato Paste
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
Baking Soda,just a pinch
3 Teaspoons of Chili Flakes
1/2 Gallon of Milk (about)
Washed the Tomatoes and basil,removed the stems and leaves.
Quartered 30 Tomatoes,reserved 7 for the paste.
With the 30 I ran them through a food mill.Added them to a huge sauce pot.
Ran the 7 through,and added them to a small sauce pot.(Paste)
The paste was made first,cooked them down,until they started to thicken.Added the oil,set aside.
In the larger pot I cooked the tomatoes,onions,bell peppers,celery salt,salt,pepper, for hours,stirred often.When they cooked down to about half,I lowered the temp to just simmering.Added the paste.
In the same paste pot I melted the butter,added the flour until it was smooth.Added it to the tomatoes.Kept stirring, (my arms tired by now)
Let it all simmer,then added the basil,sugar,and the baking soda, milk,chili flakes,and let it cook a while longer.
The baking soda was added last after the soup had a taste test.It was bitter.The soda made it foam up a little.But it took the bitterness out.It didn't stay foamy.
It was good,creamy,not too thick or thin.But it's missing something,just don't know what it is.Maybe you or someone else here can offer a suggestion of what I could have added or omitted,amounts and such..Kids thought it should have been sweeter.But they're used to that canned stuff.I thought it was sweet enough.Were all in agreement it's missing something.
Thank you
Roasted tomatoes are wonderful I'd leave that, but omit tomato paste I do mine by putting in cloves of garlic, I just leave the skins on and when done I push the clove out of the skin ,so put them together on the baking sheet, I drizzle with evoo,salt and pepper.roast, then lightly squish, don't puree if you want some texture to your soup. I would roast red peppers if you feel you need the peppers, the green I'd leave out they to me are heavy tasting and you want more tomato and basil taste, I' dice some celery and either saute it or roast it with the rest of the veggies, if you do roast it I'd leave it whole and dice later.So leave out the celery salt and add some celery seed if you like more Toward the end I'd add fresh basil shredded and a pinch or two of a good oregano or some marjoram, I'd for get the flour,baking soda, I'd taste for seasonings add some sugar or a touch of honey if necessary. I see you added milk to it, let it cook down some,it will thicken on its own as it reduces, flour to me gives it a funny taste, add you milk or some nice heavy cream, not tons of it just enough to lighten it, add a pat of butter and just like a sauce let it simmer a few minutes and taste it I'd bet it will be just right. Remember fresh herbs but dry oregano or marjoram..lets see if this does the trick.
Kadesma
