This recipe takes off-peak tomatoes and roasts them to coax out their sweetness and intensify their flavor. It’s a fall, winter or spring tomato kind of recipe, when they’re not quite sweet or juicy enough to stand on their own. For that reason, we’ll add rosemary and garlic for dimension. And a touch of cream for richness and sweetness. Serve this soup on its own as an appetizer or with your favorite grilled cheese sandwiches, like this one with gruyere and sage or an Italian one with ricotta and mozzarella.
I don’t skin the tomatoes, which makes this recipe an absolute breeze. I’ve found that between the roasting and the blender, the skin gets soft enough to melt into the soup and not be an issue at all. As a result, the active time on this recipe is probably about 10 minutes. It does takes longer to make from start to finish because of the roasting time, but you can have this roasted tomato soup on your table in less than an hour.
- about 12 small tomatoes (not cherry tomato small, though. Roma tomatoes or small full-sized tomatoes are perfect)
- 3 sprigs rosemary
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/3 cup cream
- 1/3 cup hot water
- 1 teaspoon sugar (optional, but it enhances the flavor of the off-peak tomatoes)
- salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Cut the tomatoes in half and remove any hard core sections. Spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Add the rosemary sprigs and garlic cloves to the pan. Drizzle the olive oil over the pan and add salt and pepper to taste (you can always add more at the end, to the soup itself).
- Roast the tomatoes, rosemary and garlic for 30-40 minutes, until the tomatoes are very soft and starting to brown.
- Remove the rosemary sprigs, but don't worry if some rosemary needles fall off, we'll just keep them in the soup. Add the tomatoes, garlic and any juices from the pan to a blender. l Add the cream, water and sugar. Blend until completely pureed.
- Adjust the amount of water or cream to make the soup thinner, if necessary. Taste and add salt or pepper until you're happy with the flavor. Enjoy!
Sarah @ SnixyKitchen says
I love myself a roasted soup that doesn’t demand all my time! There’s still a few early girl tomatoes in season around here (California, as you may have heard, is confused) that would be perfect for this soup!
Love CompassionateLee says
This recipe looks as comforting as it does tasty! Thanks and enjoy a wonderful weekend, Alyssa 🙂