Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Roasted red pepper and tomato soup

Working from home has its pluses and minuses. Minuses include feeling like you might literally explode from not having moved from the same few hundred square feet in more than 24 hours. Another minus is the constant distraction of cool shit like daytime TV, adorable cats and husband. A major plus, though, is being able to just walk to my kitchen to cook lunch instead of bringing crappy leftovers or shuffling over to cart row for a burrito (although I could really go for summa those insane perogi and schnitzel from the Tabor cart right about now).

With regards to feeding myself, I'm starting to get my sea legs in this whole snow day tip. I went from "holy fucking shit, we'll all starve," all manic stocking up at the grocery store and bingeing on tater tots and tacos lest I freeze from lack of blubber, to eating normal shitty weather winter food. And what better example of icky weather, thick-socks-and-blanket food than grilled chee and tomato soup?

Problem was, we didn't have any tomato soup. I had to make my own.


This would only pose a problem had I not canned all my dozens of pints of heirloom tomatoes last summer. This was the first chance to really appreciate the fruits of my labor. I pulled a pint of my golden Pineapple and Yellow Taxi tomatoes (blanched, seeded/peeled and canned with a few basil leaves), and a half-pint of roasted red bell pepper in olive oil and got a happy shiver when the vacuum seal made that delightful pop and sucking noise upon deflowering.

I heated up a pot with a drizzle of the red pepper oil and sauteed a minced garlic clove and shallot for a minute, then added the peppers and toms. I simmered for 5 minutes or so to heat all the way through, pureed with a couple pinches of salt and sugar, a tiny half-spoonful of good pimentón and a drib of balsamic vinegar. All together, it took maybe 10 or 15 minutes to bring this completely together.

Add a hunk of fresh mozz, a drizzle of red pepper oil and a pinch of chile flake. Serve with grilled chee sammiches. I did sharp cheddar and Swiss on wheat.

16 comments:

Brittany said...

Looks SOOO much better than that cambells shit- which needs so much doctoring up that it's not even worth it.
Looks like it takes about as long to make it too.

Hooray for homegrown 'maters.

Anonymous said...

let's not talk about working from home and the woes it brings. sometimes I want to jump off the balcony! absolutely beautiful soup!

peter said...

It's all so domestic I could just cry.

And who doesn't love a pop and suck upon deflowering?

SOUP OF THE DAY said...

Was it good? It looks VERY good!

Manggy said...

I KNEW it! I was just waiting for you to mention your canned toms. Of course, we're never out of tomatoes in this climate, but what's the point when they are uniformly hard and sour?
"made that delightful pop and sucking noise upon deflowering..." Don't they all? Cans, I mean. :P (Wow, I am totally getting banned...) When I made my mango-pineapple jam the fact that I had a helluva time removing the lid was so reassuring!
Weird verification word: befusly

Thistlemoon said...

That is a killer soup, Heather! Nom nom..

I know working from home can be weird at first, but after a while it was an easy adjustment!

Anonymous said...

Aiiieeeeeeeeee... that sounds good. In the vein of Mr. Rogers, Won't you be my neighbor?

Lo said...

The color of that soup alone is enough to have me drooling... there is NOTHING better than a nice, hot bowl of steaming homemade tomato soup. Except maybe a good grilled cheese.

Anonymous said...

Ahh... to have a bountiful pantry... makes me kinda jealous:-) Your soup looks seriously good.

Anonymous said...

Your soup looks...souper.....
Sorry Heather, it had to be done.

Peter M said...

I too work from home and going to the office each for a gig is now not an option.

One of the immediate bebefits of home office life is whipping up soups of the day...like this eye-catching classic.I like using roasted red peppers for some smoky notes.

Baguette for soup?

Court said...

I love just adding pureed roasted red peppers into my standard tomato soup recipe for a change once in a while. Same goes for sundried tomatoes. Either one adds such great flavor!

Anonymous said...

I work from home too!... it's just not mine. .. ugh!

Love, love the color of that luscious soup. Yum!

Anonymous said...

This would be so good with crusty bread. Sounds easy enough to make.

Frustrated Farmer Rick said...

That soup looks great. I hope to make more homemade soup this year as well. I will have to come back to this.

anudivya said...

That is one warm bowl of comfort! Looks gorgeous with that orangish red color!