Is it just me or are Monday’s after holidays just the hardest?! To make this Monday a little bit easier, I’m giving you a gift. A gift of this absolutely delicious (and healthy) roasted tomato basil soup. Coming from a person who NEVER liked tomato soup before and now swears allegiance to this liquid gold, trust me, you need this recipe. Plus, Chrissy Teigen is the one who turned me onto this recipe, which originally comes from Ina Garten. If that sentence means nothing to you, learn you something about both of them immediately.

 

I have a weird relationship with tomatoes. In so many ways…… I hate them. I don’t like them on sandwiches, salads, you’ll never see me eat one raw, I hate ketchup and already have threatened my husband that if he decides to introduce it to our children one day he will have to clean up/deal with whatever mess they make of it.

When I was a kid I didn’t even eat red sauce on pasta because… tomatoes. So you can imagine tomato soup was definitely not in my rotation of foods. Honestly I wasn’t even considering it for my line up until Chrissy Teigen instagrammed about it and made it sound like it needed to be in everyone’s life and I won’t say I walked (ran) to the store to get ingredients but also I did.

 

 

Roasting your own tomatoes feels really fancy, but it’s actually so easy to do. And the aroma. THE AROMA. Sigh.

Olive oil. Salt and pepper. 40 Minutes of you looking at these things every five minutes because YUM. Are you using the right olive oil yet?! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out my roasted chick peas recipe where I tell you all about the scam that is most grocery store olive oils. For this recipe I went with a garlic infused olive oil I get from my favorite little shop in Winter Park which is great for this recipe to add in some extra flavor but of course plain good ol’ EVOO will do the trick as well.

 

 

Because my husband and I are always looking for new ways to incorporate healthier foods into our life, we decided a few months ago to start implementing soup Sundays. We figured its a great lighter meal after a weekend of more than likely not eating as healthy as we do during the week, and because I have no concept of portions when I’m making anything, I always make enough for left overs throughout the week, and soup seriously makes the best left overs (easy work lunch, lazy dinner, etc). We tend to pick soups that are full of veggies and not dairy, though husband is still campaigning for a corn chowder (full of many not-so-good things) Sunday soon and I am entertaining figuring out how to make a lighter variety.

 

 

Despite our best intentions, sometimes my husband is REALLY hungry on a Sunday night and begs for something more than just soup (or complains that he is still going to be hungry until I give in and add something else). We’ve made hot ham and cheese sandwiches to go with soups in my family since I can remember and they’ve always been something I’ve loved. I’m not talking like white bread and american cheese. I’m talking sourdough, tavern ham, olive oil (obviously) and creamy provolone. DROOL. There’s nothing better than that first bite of this sandwich dipped into your homemade tomato soup. NOTHING. And if you don’t believe me, believe the intensity of my husbands face in the picture below. DYING LAUGHING. He just really loves this meal (and me).

 

ROASTED TOMATO BASIL SOUP & CROQUE MONSIEUR

INGREDIENTS

• 3 lbs ripe plum tomatoes
• Good olive oil (garlic or regular EVOO)
• 1 tbspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups chopped yellow onion
• 6 garlic cloves minced
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes ( I add a little more but I like it spicier)
• 1 can (28 ounce) canned plum tomatoes with their juice
• 4 cups fresh basil leaves
• 1 quart chicken stock
• Dash of cream (Ina Garten’s recipe includes butter to give it creaminess/cut the acidity, I prefer to eliminate that and add a dash of cream at the end)

For Croque Monsieurs (or hot ham sammies same difference right?!)

Serving two:

• 1/2 lb of sliced tavern ham
• Sliced Sour dough bread
• Olive oil
• 2 slices of Provolone (though my husband prefers swiss)

INSTRUCTIONS

SOUP

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Toss cut tomatoes, olive oil (around 1/4 cup) salt and pepper together and then line a baking sheet with tomatoes to roast for 45 minutes
3. In an 8-quart pot over medium-high heat saute onion until translucent with some olive oil
4. Add garlic and red pepper flakes until the onions start to brown around 10 minutes
5. Add the canned tomatoes and chicken stock
6. Add the roasted tomatoes including the liquid on the baking sheet (and probably just use a piece of bread to clean it off for good measure)
7. Add basil
8. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer uncovered for 40 minutes
9. If you’re Ina Garten and have a food mill, pass the mixture through that, if you’re like me, use an immulsion blender in your pot to blend the ingredients until smooth or your desired consistency (if you like a little chunk do not fully blend)
10. If you’re up for it, add a dash of cream (this cuts the acidity a bit and helps if you’ve made it a little spicy
11. Taste for seasonings

SAMMIES

1. Fry ham in a cast iron on medium-high heat with some olive oil, place on a plate
2. Add olive oil to the cast iron again
3. Construct your sandwich with sourdough, cheese and ham
4. Place sandwich into the pan and cook until brown and toasted on the side-down
5. Flip and repeat on the other side
6. PUT YOUR HAND UP ON YOUR HIP, AND I DIP YOU DIP WE DIP (into the soup)

 

Got any good soup recipes to share? Always looking for new ones for soup Sunday!

XO,

JESS