Tomato Soup for the Soul

Today I saw that one of my favorite blogs, Hail's Kitchen, is back in action! The author, my friend Hailey, is always inspiring me to try new recipes - she is so fearless and adventurous in the kitchen. Her latest post, A Truffled Protest, had pictures of a delicious looking tomato soup and grilled cheese combo. Now for years I have been sitting on some amazing soup recipes given to me by friends but I have to be honest - for whatever reason, making soup has always frightened me. I pictured hours of simmering, waiting for the right consistency, only to end up with a watery, flavorless bowl of soup. (I guess all of those years of eating sodium filled canned soup which you just open, heat, and serve have spoiled me.)

Well, after reading Hailey's post, which made making soup from scratch sound so easy, and given the fact that it is about 37 degrees at night here lately (it went from 85 degrees one day to snowing the next - that's a Utah fall for you), I could not resist the allure of grilled cheese and a hot bowl of soup. (Plus, I have this slow cooker that has been collecting dust in my cabinet since last Christmas that I have been dying to find an excuse to use.)

I started with Hailey's suggestion of oven roasting the tomatoes. I followed her instructions pretty much to a tee: take 5 medium red tomatoes, quarter them, lay them on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and place them in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

From there, I ventured out on my own, taking different cues from the many different tomato soup recipes I have on file and combining them with Hailey's recipe. It was nothing short of revalation (only about 20 mins of active cook time - no more canned soup for me!) and earned rave reviews from all of my dinner guests! I hope it will inspire you to make homemade soup as well.

My recipe is as follows:

oven roasted tomatoes
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
4 small cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium white onion, diced
1 tsp saffron threads
boiling water
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
1 1/2 cups vegetable (or chicken) broth

After roasting the tomatoes, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. In the mean time, add garlic and onion to 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil heated over medium-low to medium heat. Cover and saute for 10 mins. Add cooled tomatoes, onion, and garlic to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the blended mixture into a slow cooker (or large sauce pan). Crush saffron threads with the back of a spoon until a powder is formed. Steep saffron threads in 1 Tbsp boiling water for approximately one minute. Pour saffron/water mixture into slow cooker/sauce pan. Add chicken broth, oregano, basil, and crushed red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Garnish with chopped fresh basil and parmesan cheese. Serve with your favorite grilled cheese sandwich (I made mine with brie and ciabatta bread in my panini press).