Roasted Tomato - Vegetable Soup

Sometimes I get an idea for a recipe and it meets or exceeds my expectations. This was one o.f those times ☺️ It's not an exact recipe though, more just a photo illustration.

I had to slow-roast everything since I could not figure out how to get the oven temperature higher or lower than 350° on this fancy oven where I'm currently staying, here in Arizona.

I lost track of the time it took to get everything roasted properly, but as usually the carrots are the last to soften, so they were my guide. At that temperature, I'd guess the process took around an hour and a half, give or take a bit.

First scrub everything, then cut it all into big or medium chunks. Toss it all together in a big soup pot with a generous amount of good quality -single source- EVOO, a bit of garlic salt, lots of black pepper and whatever seasoning or herb blend you choose. 

Pour that onto a big sheet pan and roast until the carrots cooperate. Cool all this slightly, peel the tomatoes if you can, then put everything into a blender jar.

Pulse until rough-chunky or all the way to baby-food-smooth, whatever your preference for this particular soup happens to be today. Mine here isn't chunky but also not smooth, somewhere -just right- in the middle.

Pour this into that same big pot again. Rinse the pan and blender jar and add this water to the pot. Heat it to a simmer, taste and make any corrections in texture, viscosity and seasonings. More of everything? More water? Chicken soup base? Want it dairy free -?- then serve it now. 

If you want it a bit softer, and appreciate dairy, add heavy cream or a big spoonful of sour cream, just a little at a time until you get it right. Stir gently to combine everything and heat it back to a simmer before serving.

I had this with a piece of Cloud Bread and a fresh green side salad. . .Mmmm. Remember. . .it's always soup season. . .Even here in Arizona with the outside temperature at 91° . . 🥰 . . Lin

Vegetable Soup with a Roasted Tomato-Cream Base

I have some incredibly beautiful vegetables right now. With all that's going on in the world, I think the ability to buy and cook gorgeous, healthy food makes me Very Affluent by the current world standards. I feel Truly Blessed!

I pondered over the technique I wanted to use with these ingredients and decided something different.

Scrub all the vegetables. Combine the following rough chopped vegetables and ingredients in a 6 quart pot, then pour onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 50 minutes or when lightly browned, sizzling and roasted. In a deep bowl, combine the vegetables and pan drippings with ???c cold filtered water. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth.

1 lg. red bell pepper

1/4 purple onion

3 med. carrots

1/2-1t garlic parsley salt

1/2-1t fresh ground black pepper

3T single source EVOO

While the first group of vegetables are doing their thing in the oven, prep, sauté then simmer the following vegetables cut into bite sized pieces into the 6 quart pot:

10oz. asparagus

3/4 purple onion

9oz. Brussels sprouts

7oz baby portabella mushrooms

3T single source EVOO

When everything begins to sizzle, before there is too much browning, add the following to the pot. Stir, cover and simmer about 20 minutes total. Remove from the heat until the roasted vegetable cream base is ready.

3-4 bay leaves

3c fresh cold water

3T red wine vinegar

2-3T Better Than Bouillon - vegetable

Blend the red and orange roasted vegetables with 2oz sun dried tomatoes. When well blended and slightly cool, stir in 1c sour cream, then pour this soup base over the vegetables and broth in the pot. Stir, reheat to just a light bubble, before serving. To me this is sort of the best of soups. Roasted, blended cream base combined with chunky healthy vegetables. 

Mmmm...Soup's Ready! . .Lin