Roasted Tomato and Garlic Soup with Pan-Crisped Croutons
Deeply flavourful, savoury, bright, and flecked with herbs, Roasted Tomato and Garlic Soup with Pan-Crisped Croutons may just be at the pinnacle of comforting soup eating bliss. Mounded with pan-crisped croutons, and sprinkled with optional grated cheese (dairy or vegan), and you have the heavenly love child of grilled cheese and tomato soup all in one bowl!
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
For the roasted tomatoes:
(Note: If using previously cooked Oven Roasted Tomatoes, skip to the following section)
- 750 grams Roma tomatoes (that's about 1.5 lbs or 8 roma tomatoes) cut into rough chunks (don’t bother coring)
- 1 small head garlic (about 8-10 cloves) cloves separated and peeled
- 1 handful mixed woody herbs of your choice such as rosemary, oregano, and thyme (don’t bother to stem the herbs), a little bit reserved for garnish
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste See note.
To complete the soup:
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small small sweet or white onion roughly chopped (about 1 heaping cup)
- 500 ml canned peeled tomatoes
- 750 ml vegetable stock plus extra for adjusting soup consistency
For the croutons:
- 1 slice per person of a sturdy bread of your choice, such as sourdough, cut into medium sized cubes
- 1 tablespoon butter dairy or vegan, or substitute olive oil
To garnish the soup before serving
- Grated cheddar dairy or vegan
- Chilli flakes to taste for garnish
Instructions
Make the oven roasted tomatoes:
(If using previously cooked Oven Roasted Tomatoes, skip to the next group of instructions)
- Preheat the oven to 450 ℉.
- Line a roasting pan with parchment paper.
- To the roasting pan add the tomato chunks, garlic cloves, and scatter over the herbs. Drizzle generously with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes.
To complete the soup:
- While the tomatoes are roasting (or if you have already cooked Oven Roasted Tomatoes), place a heavy bottomed soup pot on medium heat. Add the olive oil, the onion, and sauté until nice and soft with golden edges, about 15 minutes.
- Add in the canned tomatoes and vegetable broth, and let things cook until the roasted tomatoes are done.
- Once the roasted tomatoes are done, remove any large woody stems or especially blackened herb bits and discard in the compost, and scrape the roasted tomatoes, roasted garlic cloves, remaining herbs and juices carefully into the soup pot. Let cook on medium high heat for another 10-15 minutes to let the flavours meld.
- Blend the entire contents of the soup pot in a high speed blender until smooth. See note. Add in extra broth as needed to achieve your desired consistency and adjust the seasoning by adding salt and pepper as needed.
To make the pan-crisped croutons:
- While the soup finishes cooking, take one thick slice of bread per person, and cut into medium size cubes (no bigger than what you can cram onto a big spoon).
- Heat a pan on the stove over medium heat, and add the butter or oil. Once sizzling, add the bread and pan-crisp until browned, stirring often, working in batches if needed, and adding more butter or oil if you feel you need it. When browned to your satisfaction - I love a bit of dark brown char on my croutons - turn the heat off and reserve in the warm pan until ready for serving.
Garnish and serve:
- Laddle out portions of the soup, topping with generous heaps of pan-crisped croutons, grated cheddar, a sprinkle of fresh herbs, a grind of fresh black pepper, and a pinch of dried chilli flakes to taste. Enjoy!
Notes
A word of caution: theoretically, you are not supposed to blend hot liquids, but I often do. I start my blender slowly, and am extra careful when opening the lid to the blender otherwise the hot liquid can splash upwards. Taking the lid off quite slowly lessens the chance of this happening, and I guess I like to live on the edge because I do blend the soup while it is still hot. If you prefer not to blend a hot liquid, let the soup cool to room temperature, blend as desired, and then reheat the soup before garnishing and serving, or use an immersion blender while the soup is still in the pot.
As I regularly use commercially prepared vegetarian broth when time is an issue, I find that salting the soup before it is done can lead to overly salty results, as many broths are generously salted. Unless you are using homemade broth, or salt free broth, make sure to salt the soup at the end of the cooking process, so you can control exactly how much you need to season the soup to your taste preference.