Roasted Tomato Soup & Sundried Tomato Pesto

Tomato Soup &

Sundried Tomato Pesto

Tomato Soup is my favorite rainy day soup. It pairs well with a grilled cheese sandwich and the combination is probably my favorite thing to eat on a rainy day -which we have a lot of in the PNW.         

This recipe is SUPER EASY to make, using the oven and blender to do most of the work. If you have ripe tomatoes you don't really need much tomato paste. I made this recipe in December, and the tomatoes weren't fully ripe so I had to adjust. 

Just place the following ingredients in an oven pan, drizzle olive oil, salt & pepper and bang it in a Preheated 400℉ oven on high broil for 30-40 min or until roasted. Skins should fall off the tomatoes effortlessly.

• 2.2 lbs Roma Tomatoes, Cored & Cut in Half. - Skins facing up.
• 1 large red onion or 2 small red onions.
• 1 carrot
• 1 jalapeño
• 1 knob garlic

Remove it from the oven, discard the skins, let it cool, and add it to your blender. 

Blend it on low for 15-20 seconds. 

In a soup pot, on medium-high heat, add 1 tbs butter or olive oil. Add tomato paste to the pot along with your blended tomato slurry. Mix in the tomato paste to achieve the desired colour. The desired colour should be darker than your final product because you will be adding a tablespoon of creme fraiche or sour creme shortly.

Reduce to simmer and cook it down for 20-30 min with the lid ajar.   

While it cooks lets make the Sundried Tomato Pesto for our garnish. Roughly chop the following and add it to a mortar and pestle. Pesto means mashed so if possible, used a mortar & pestle rather than a food processor/blender. 

• 1 200ml Can of Sundried Tomatoes in Oil (brighter red tomatoes = brighter pesto) 
• 1 stem of basil leaves (about 5-6 leaves)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbs roasted nuts of choice (pine nuts, hazenuts, almonds or walnuts)

Chop the ingredients above roughly then mash them in the mortar & pestle until a rough dough-like mush forms. Slowly add the following in the order written below:

• 1/2 cup fresh finely grated Parmesan Reggiano
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tbs butter

To serve: Pour soup into a bowl, garnish with 1 tbs pesto, and 1 tbs creme fraiche or sour creme.