Today, I’m excited to share a recipe from a great friend, Hope Cohen. She has a cookbook coming out this fall called Fast Fresh and Simple. Uhhhhh, hello? How FABULOUS is that title?
I have had a sneak peak at the book and I am super excited about it. Heaven knows I’m always looking for recipes that are exactly: Fast. Fresh. And Simple.
Hope kindly offered to share her recipe for roasted tomato fennel soup. I must say that it is super yummy.
Hope likes to make this dairy free, vegetarian soup when tomatoes are at their peak ripeness, which is at the end of summer (can you even believe that it’s the END of summer? Holy Moly. I digress…)
She suggests looking for large, meaty plum tomatoes. She also lets us in on the fact that caramelizing the tomato, fennel and shallot amplifies their sweetness, creating many layers of fantastic flavor (though you dear readers probably already knew that, right?!?). I’m still a tad sloooooow.
Anyhoo, hope that you enjoy this recipe as much as we are! Thank you, Hope!
Roasted Tomato and Fennel Soup
Ingredients:
- 2TBS + 1 Tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large shallots, peeled, trimmed and halved
- 8 Large plum tomatoes, trimmed and halved
- 1 Fennel Bulb, trimmed and cut into quarters, reserving the dark green leafy fronds, finely chopped
- 1 large carrot, peeled, trimmed and chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Pre heat oven to 400°F.
- Toss tomatoes, fennel and shallot with 2 TBS of oil and spread onto a non-stick sheet pan. Place tomatoes cut side up. Season liberally with salt and black pepper.
- Place pan in hot oven and cook for about 30 minutes, until vegetables start to sizzle and caramelize, looking browned. Remove pan from oven.
- While vegetables are cooking in the oven, heat remaining oil in a stock pot on medium heat. Sauté carrots sprinkled with 2 TBS of the reserved fennel fronds, stirring often for about 5 minutes until wilted and softened.
- Add the contents of the sheet pan, including all of the accumulated juices to the pot with the carrots. Add 4 cups of water, salt and pepper to taste to the pot.
- Simmer the pot on medium for 10 minutes, stirring often and taste for seasoning.
- Transfer contents of pot to a blender carefully, you may have to do this in 2 or 3 batches; blend all ingredients very well and transfer mixture to a clean pot.
- Re-heat and serve immediately or allow to cool, refrigerate and serve the next day cold or reheated.
Note: Be extra careful when blending hot ingredients in a blender to allow some hot air to escape while blending ingredients, by slightly moving lid to a side position or removing the center plastic part of the lid and covering with a towel so the ingredients don’t splatter. Neglecting this step can cause a hot explosion.
Here is Hope’s website: http://www.fastfreshandsimple.com/ and her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Hopecooks