ChilledSpicy Roasted Tomato Soup with a Panzanella Salad and Cucumber-Parmesan Foam

[ironchef]

One of my mad scientist ideas that just came together flavor and texture-wise and just worked. This dish had all the five main flavor profiles: sweet, salty, acidic, savory, and spicy. The tomatoes were slightly roasted with garlic at 350 F for only 8-10 minutes. What this does is it preserves the color of the tomatoes without actually cooking them (similar to blanching green vegetable/herbs). So, you still get that fresh tomato flavor but you get this vibrant, bright color that you wouldn't get if you had just pureed them raw.

Because the foam covered the panzanella, the flavors in the salad would surprise the guest since they couldn't exactly see what was in it. I added Marcona almonds (Spanish Marcona Almonds-Toasted/Salted) in the panzanella which gave it another dimension of flavor and what really was the surprising burst of flavor underneath the foam. These are the best almonds you will ever eat.

The combination of cucumber and parmesan gave the foam both a fresh and savory quality, and also made a cool light green color. Micro opal basil was also placed on top of the panzanella (and is becoming my favorite herb-garnish to work with) and the flavor from that helped to bring everything together as well. So here its, looking like something out of Marcel Vigneron's playbook:

Chilled Spicy Vine-Ripened Big Island Tomato Soup
"Panzanella" Style Salad, Micro Opal Basil, Cucumber-Parmesan Foam

 

[obiwan9962]

great job!!!!

 

[bknox]

I should eat BEFORE weeding through the forum. Now I am starving. Nicely done!

Bryan

 

[ironchef]

Some retard at work put a bunch of heavy stuff on one of the flats of tomatoes which smashed most of them. Because of that, we couldn't use them in the salads so that's what led to the creation of this dish.

There's many times that I don't go into work with an idea for a special, but I'll look around and see stuff that needs to be used up for whatever reason and that will be the inspiration.

 

[gourmande]

Gorgeous... and delicious no doubt. The roasted tomatoes must burst with flavour!

Just a question re the Panzanella salad: what did you use for the bread component, a crouton perhaps?

G

 

[ironchef]

Gorgeous... and delicious no doubt. The roasted tomatoes must burst with flavour!

Just a question re the Panzanella salad: what did you use for the bread component, a crouton perhaps?

G

Yeah, I used the leftover croutons from the day before in the panzanella.

 

[*amy*]

Yeah, I used the leftover croutons from the day before in the panzanella.

What flavor were they?

 

[ironchef]

What flavor were they?

They were seasoned with garlic, thyme, and butter, and made from sourdough bread.