We are entering the heart of the winter. The days are short (though getting longer), it’s brutally cold outside and people are covered in many padded layers. And there’s plenty of food that just doesn’t taste like it could in the middle of summer.
That’s when we turn to our jars and something like this:
We have essentially stopped eating ‘fresh’ tomatoes in the winter. Winter tomatoes are part of a growing list of things we generally don’t eat through the winter months (of course if we are served them we won’t throw them out – we simply avoid prepping with them ourselves). The list is long and varied and isn’t something that we consciously render, it just happens.
We are also spoiled to pull many of the ingredients from our pantry – pressure canned asparagus, beans, peas, tomatoes, dehydrated berries and more (I mean, who could forget the Rumtopf?).
The soup above is a simple tomato soup topped with dehydrated wild leek roots. They are sort of cross (in flavour) of onion and garlic. Of course you can have the soup without them but they add texture and flavour and use a part of the plant that many unfortunately discard.
Our recipe for soup (although it changes every time):
- Melt a tablespoon or two of butter in a pan over medium to medium-high heat.
- Add a roughly equal part flour. Constantly stir and let it cook for a few minutes.
- Pour a can of tomato sauce in a slow stream – ensuring you are rapidly mixing as you go. Using a whisk and doing this off heat may help you avoid clumps. Our sauce has herbs and garlic, so none is needed.
- I add a dehydrated hot pepper in the soup as it warms. This will allow the pepper to rehydrate (so I can chop it fine and add back to the soup) as well as infuse it’s flavour into the pot.
- Add milk or cream. You don’t need a lot – about 10% of the volume will do.
- I chop in some leeks at the last-minute – again for texture and taste.
- Season with salt and pepper.
It really is an awesome winter meal that can be made in minutes and tastes like it’s fresh from the summer heat.
What are your favourite mid-winter meals that draw you back to warmer times?
HI Joel
Like you I dont’ eat tomatoes in the winter. I am spoiled by my harvest from the summer. I froze my tomatoes or dried them in the oven and use them through out the winter. My version of tomoato soup is a bit different and again, sorry but the measurements are based on how big of a pot I am using.
1 large onion diced
2-3 cloves of garlic smashed
1-2 red or yellow peppers chopped up
1 med size ziploc bag of my frozen tomatoes
1 -2 tbsp of olive oil
1 wine glass of white wine
I put this all in my cast iron dutch oven, turn the oven up to 425F and roast it for 1 hour.
after an hour, I let it cool a bit before I blitz it with the immersion blender, on the stove it goes, add stock to the desired soup consistency I like and let it boil for 20 mins. I will add some oven dried tomatoes in before blitzing it. of course you season it to your taste with salt and pepper.
and if you like add basil. I freeze a ton of basil in little ice cubes for just the occasion.
I find this soup is a nice light alternative to ones with cream in them.
[…] summer and its vibrant flavours? You could make yourself some tomato soup. [Well […]