Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Joe's Choice Wednesday: TOMATO SOUP

NaBloPoMo: Day 15


I don't want to scare you. Are you sitting? Swallow your coffee, soda, wine, beer, or what-have-you. OK? Is your oral cavity evacuated? I am trying to save your computer and monitor screen. No need to thank me. Really. It is all in a day-in-the-life of labor for me as a mother, pancreas, wife, nurse, friend, make-up expert, 1/2 marathon trainer, fashionista...


AND...

"DOMESTIC GODDESS"...


I bet that one surprised you. Yep, I can scrub a toothpaste encrusted sink drain, sweep shoe tread clumped mud chunks, and dust spittle coated cracker crumbs with the best of them and I like to cook "healthy" food made from locally grown veggies. We belong to a CSA named Bread and Roses. Bridget, Joe, and I drive out to the farm weekly to pick-up our produce from June through October. It is reasonably priced and I get to expose Bridget and Joe to the growing process and harvesting procedures, while introducing a variety of vegetables to their diet. The past couple of weeks we have accumulated over five pounds of tomatoes from our CSA visits.
So...

As if Joe isn't enough work with the "temporary" over-time pancreas job that he involuntarily hired me for, he also loves some labor-intensive foods. His absolute favorite homemade soup is tomato. He loves it from scratch with real tomatoes. He begs for it all summer. It starts when the little nubbins of green fruit start to emerge from the yellow flower on the plant and it continues on, and on, and on, and on until the fruit is finally ripe.

Without further delay our Fresh Tomato Soup Recipe post.

This is a great recipe for this time of year. It gives you one more thing to do with the abundance of tomatoes yielded from a good growing season. AND. Yes, I realize this post is a little tame after the penis-pancreas connection and the alien abduction. I guess I want you guys to know deep down I am a "normal" person trapped in a prophane adjective and adverb slingin' comedienne's body. Smiles.

INGREDIENTS:
4 cups fresh tomatoes
1 sliced onion
4 whole cloves
2 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons white sugar, or to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Blanche whole tomatoes in boiling water for 15 seconds. Let them cool to the point of handling them safely. Then peel the skin off. Halve the tomatoes to de-seed them. Then dice the tomato flesh.

Blanching



Peeling



Peeled and De-seeded


In a stockpot, over medium heat, combine the tomatoes, onion, cloves and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, and gently boil for about 20 minutes to blend all of the flavors. Remove from heat and blenderize the mixture.



Boiling



Joe "manning" the blender


In the now empty stockpot, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour to make a roux, cooking until the roux is a medium brown. Gradually whisk in a bit of the tomato mixture, so that no lumps form, then stir in the rest. Season with sugar and salt, and adjust to taste.




NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION: Garden Fresh Tomato Soup
Servings Per Recipe: 6
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 81
Total Fat: 4.3g
Cholesterol: 12mg
Sodium: 803mg
Total Carbs: 9.4g
Dietary Fiber: 1.8g
Protein: 1.9g

A day-in-the-life of making wholesome food for my family and my high maintenance type 1 kid.

14 comments:

Cindy said...

Mmmmm...can I come to your house for dinner? That looks amazing!

And just an fyi....normal is so over-rated! I like the sassier comedienne side of you! No need to prove to me that you're normal!

Nicole said...

I LOVE tomato soup...it's my FAVORITE!! and it looks soooo good I may have to give this a try :)Thanks for sharing.

Denise said...

I love tomato soup but the one time I tried to make it from my garden tomatoes, it was disgusting! This recipe sounds great, may have to try it :-)

Heidi =) said...

Yummy!! I can't wait to try this recipe out! Thanks for sharing it!

Jen said...

Yum! I love tomato soup..looks like a great recipe!

Stephanie said...

Hi! Thank you for stopping by my blog...I visited yours a bit last night, but need more time in my day to read! It is so comforting to know that there are other moms out there going through this. ((hugs))

Heidi / D-Tales said...

You should submit this for D Feast Friday, even though you posted it on a Wednesday!

I like seeing Oscar in the pic, too! :)

Sarah said...

Now toss in a little grilled cheese and you've got my favorite meal.

Pam said...

Looks delish! Now that it's getting colder here in New England, I'm so in the mood for soup! Next grocery trip I'm getting the tomatoes!

Donna said...

What?? Wait! No.... Uhhhh.... Oh boy. My canned tomato soup will never be the same.

LOL!!

Amanda said...

Look at you with your nutritional info all posted on your homemade soup! Looks dreamy...

Meri said...

Oh, I am already in love! I cannot wait to try this. I am drooling!!

LaLa said...

That sounds fabulous!! Can't wait to give it a try! Thank you for sharing the yumminess!

connie said...

I have more tomatoes in my garden then I know what to do with!!! This will be great for me to try, my girls and I Loooooooove tomato soup!!!

Yummy :)