Farmstand Tomato Soup with Arugula Pesto |
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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 0 Minutes |
Ready In: 0 Minutes Servings: 8 |
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I love coming home with friends from a steamy day at the beach knowing that I've got a batch of cold tomato soup ready. I dish it up, swirl in a tablespoon of vibrant green arugula pesto, and pass it around. We sit on the porch and savor the flavor of sun-sweetened summer tomatoes enhanced with a touch of cream and a nip of vodka. The rest of dinner will come later, but for now, we're assuaging our hunger, chatting, laughing, and reliving the events of the day. This is a great make-ahead soup. In fact, it becomes more flavorful with age. Although I like it cold, it's equally good heated. If storm clouds gather and the temperature plunges, take the soup from refrigerator to stove, heat it up, and serve it in mugs. Ingredients:
10 medium or 4 very large ripe tomatoes (about 4 pounds), cored |
1/4 cup olive oil |
2 shallots, coarsely chopped |
2 cloves garlic, chopped |
1 (28-ounce) can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes |
1 tablespoon kosher salt |
1/8 teaspoon sugar |
1/4 to 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream |
1/4 cup good-quality vodka (optional) |
1/2 cup pine nuts |
5 ounces baby arugula |
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped |
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt |
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1/2 medium lemon) |
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil |
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese |
Directions:
1. To Make the Soup: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Set the cored tomatoes on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and roast them until they look wrinkly, about 30 minutes; set aside. While the tomatoes cool, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small sauté pan. Add the shallots and 2 cloves chopped garlic and sauté over medium-low heat until they turn golden brown and caramelized, 15 to 20 minutes; set aside.
2. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel off the skins, which should slip off easily. Put the peeled tomatoes in the jar of a blender along with the sautéed shallots and garlic, crushed tomatoes (with juice), 1 tablespoon salt, and sugar. Process until the soup is smooth. Stir in the cream and vodka, if desired. Refrigerate in a covered bowl for at least 6 hours, or preferably overnight.
3. To Make the Pesto: Toast the pine nuts, stirring occasionally, in a skillet set on medium heat until they turn golden brown, about 4 minutes. Combine the arugula, pine nuts, 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and lemon juice in the jar of a blender or the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, then slowly add in the olive oil through the feed tube and process. Transfer the pesto to a bowl and stir in the Parmesan.
4. To Serve: Ladle the chilled soup into individual serving bowls, and swirl 1 tablespoon of pesto into each.
5. Do it early The soup can be made up to 4 days in advance and refrigerated. Ditto for the pesto. Both should be well covered. Arugula pesto does not brown when exposed to oxygen as does its more common cousin, basil pesto.
6. Variation The more traditional-minded may prefer a basil pesto. Also, you can eliminate the cream and top the soup with a dollop of crème fraîche or Greek-style yogurt and a drizzle of pesto.
7. From Pastry Queen Parties: Entertaining Friends and Family, Texas Style by Rebecca Rather and Alison Oresman. Copyright © 2009 by Rebecca Rather and Alison Oresman. Published by Ten Speed Press. All Rights Reserved. Alison Oresman has worked as a journalist for more than twenty years. She has written and edited for newspapers in Wyoming, Florida, and Washington State. As an entertainment editor for the Miami Herald, she oversaw the paper's restaurant coverage and wrote a weekly column as a restaurant critic. After settling in Washington State, she also covered restaurants in the greater Seattle area as a critic with a weekly column. A dedicated home baker, Alison is often in the kitchen when she isn't writing. Alison lives in Bellevue, Washington, with her husband, Warren, and their children, Danny and Callie. A pastry chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author, native Texan Rebecca Rather has been proprietor of the Rather Sweet Bakery and Café since 1999. Open for breakfast and lunch daily, Rather Sweet has a fiercely loyal cadre of regulars who populate the café's sunlit tables each day. In 2007, Rebecca opened her eponymous restaurant, serving dinner nightly, just a few blocks from the café. Rebecca is the author of The Pastry Queen, and has been featured in Texas Monthly, Gourmet, Ladies' Home Journal, Food & Wine, Southern Living, Chocolatier, Saveur, and O, The Oprah Magazine. When she isn't in the bakery or on horseback, Rebecca enjoys the sweet life in Fredericksburg, where she tends to her beloved backyard garden and menagerie, and eagerly awaits visits from her college-age daughter, Frances.
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