Classics never die - Tomato soup

It was one of those days you don't feel like doing anything, it's raining outside and your fridge is empty while you become one with your sofa and blanket. Already dark outside and running out of options, I forced myself in rain boots and coat to walk across the street to get dinner. You all probably experienced the brutal situation I had to face: knowing you are hungry but nothing, literally nothing, in those miles of shelves filled with food meets your taste in this second. Bummer. Walking through desert might feel similar to when I walked 45minutes from option to option without success. At the end I just gave up and took what was in front of me. I would never have thought that this was a good choice. I hated tomato soup and it was a very lazy decision, but back home I had to recognize it was one of the smart ones in my life. The basic diner brought back my life spirits and that was the moment I started to love this dish.

From then on I refined it every time I tasted it. A little spice here and there. It's incredible how many versions of such a simple dish can exist. Its completely dominated by what you like. Should it be spicy or fruity? With or without cream? Red or white? Sounds nearly like you select your favorite wine, which is by the way the perfect addition to any kind of tomato soup.

For me it has to be fresh and flexible while not being too fancy. I ended up with this recipe. Yes it is probably not the quickest one, but the result allows me to adjust it to me actual taste every time.

Ingredients:

Soup

10 Large, fleshy tomatoes

3 Garlic cloves

250ml Beef stock

1 tablespoon Brown sugar

100ml Orange juice

100ml Red wine

Olive oil

Salt

Black pepper

Chili powder

1. Cut the tomatoes in half and put them with the open side down on a baking sheet. Ad the garlic in big pieces in between and cover all with olive oil. Put them in the oven at 200C for 45-60min. For the last 15min turn them. The final duration depends on the size of the tomatoes, so I would recommend you rather check from time to time. The tomatoes should get some wrinkles and can be roasted. The roasting aroma is exactly what we would like to get out of it. The olive oil will mix with the juice of the tomatoes and gets flavored by the garlic. Keep it.

2. Let the tomatoes cool down before you peel them. No need to torture your fingers and do it while they are hot. Put the tomatoes, gained liquid and garlic in a pot, add the sugar and let it slightly caramelize. You need the sugar to balance the sourness of tomatoes and orange later.

3. Smash all to a creamy sauce. With a bit of salt and pepper this is a great tomato sauce for pasta.

4. For our purpose we add beef stock, orange juice and wine, close the pot and let the liquid reduce for around 15min. Vegetarians can easily take vegetable stock instead of beef. You might afterwards need to add more salt instead.

5. Last but not least use salt, black pepper and chili powder to adjust the soup to your taste.

Add on

200ml Heavy cream

Turmeric

Baguette Croutons

Basil (or any other preferred herb)

1. Whip the heavy cream half way through and slowly let it stream on the tomato soup. Use the turmeric to give a touch of color to the white. If you don't have it, that's fine. It's more decoration than taste.

2. You can buy finished croutons or make them yourself or leave them off. For me they are part of the whole dish and make it complete. I usually put only 1-2 on the soup immediately as decoration. The others I serve separately to avoid that they soak through. This way you can add the crunchiness whenever you want.

3. This is highly optional, but I like to add fresh herbs, mostly basil cut in thin stripes.

If you don't want to invest too much time, instead of roasting tomatoes you can buy crushed and peeled tomatoes. My learning in that case: roast the garlic first in the pan before you add the tomatoes and afterwards add more sugar as usual as they are more sour.