Winter Tomato Soup

I don’t need Punxsutawney Phil to tell me that winter will be sticking around for a while. But, since there’s not much I can do about it, I just warm up with a bowl of hot soup.

I suppose one could say that this soup if full of Spanish flavors, but I’ve never been to Spain and I don’t know any Spanish people, so I wouldn’t dare describe it as “authentic Spanish cuisine.” I did put smoked paprika in it, which had the word “Spanish” on the label, so that must count for something. Smoked paprika may be difficult to find, but I got mine from a Penzeys Spices store, and it is available on their web site.

I did base this soup on an idea I had for a smoky-flavored Gazpacho (which may also support its Spanish-ness), but the weather is cold and so is Gazpacho, so I made a comforting hot soup instead. More brands seem to be canning fire-roasted tomatoes these days, so they may be easier to find than they used to be. (I usually use Muir Glen brand, which is always good.) You could use roasted red bell peppers from a jar for this soup, or you could roast your own as described in this post. I used homemade vegetable broth, but I think you could use your favorite vegetable or chicken broth.

Just a few words about salt: First of all, I tend to like my soup salty. I used unsalted tomatoes, fresh peppers that I roasted, and unsalted broth to make this soup, so I ended up putting in about 1 ½ to 2 teaspoons. (I’m not sure, since I added more at one point when I was unsure if I had added some already. Don’t do this.) I use kosher salt, which has a more coarse grain than regular iodized salt.

I’ve found that it’s best to add some salt with the sautéing vegetables, to help them sweat a bit, then add more salt only to taste. Look at the sodium content of your ingredients, then decide how much salt to start with, then, when the soup has boiled down, taste it. If it needs more salt, put some more in. If it’s too salty, you may be out of luck. I don’t know that any of the old home remedies for over-salted soup really work.

Upon the first test, this soup turned out as well as I had hoped. It is thick, but soft, a little tangy and acidic, and just a bit spicy. You could probably spice it up even more by adding more hot pepper flakes, or even a minced chipotle chile, which would bump up the smokiness as well. You might also make it even heartier if you added a drained and rinsed can of chickpeas near the end of cooking, or diced up some Spanish chorizo sausage and sautéed it with the onion and celery

Mmmmmm! That all sounds so good, I might just have to go out and buy a few more cans of fire-roasted tomatoes! I wish I knew more Spanish, so I could give a proper send-off!

Tomato and Roasted Pepper Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon coarse (kosher) salt (plus more to taste)
5 cloves garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons Spanish smoked paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 (14.5 ounce or 411 g) cans fire roasted tomatoes, do not drain
2 roasted red bell peppers
3 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth)

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions appear translucent and begin to brown, about 8-10 minutes.

2. Add the garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, smoked paprika and cumin. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in the fire roasted tomatoes, roasted peppers and broth.

3. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently, uncovered, until the celery is tender and the soup has thickened, about 45 minutes. Taste the soup and add more salt to taste if necessary.

Makes about 6 servings.

Roasted Red Pepper Dip

I’m a big fan of snacking. I even wonder if I enjoy things like televised sporting events and movies because there’s often snacking involved: buckets of popcorn, nachos, fried cheese, hot wings, and lots of offerings from the brown and crunchy food group. And for the more plain among the crunchy things, a dip like Roasted Red Pepper, Garlic and Onion Dip in which to dunk them.

If you’re intimidated by roasting your own peppers, you can use roasted red peppers in a jar for this recipe (in fact, with the price of red bell peppers being what it usually is, those in the jar can be more economical). Roasting peppers isn’t difficult, though. Just place whole peppers under the broiler and let them get black all over. You could also do this on a grill. The smoky flavor they get is even better than what the oven broiler has to offer. The method is the same. The heat just comes from the opposite direction.

You may think you’ve ruined your peppers at this point, that you’ve charred them beyond redemption. Trust me, they’re just fine. Place them in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave them to their steam bath for about 20 minutes or so (you could also put them in a paper bag). When they’re cool enough to handle, the charred skin peels right off, and you have tender pepper flesh ready for whatever application you have in mind.

Roasting garlic is another useful technique with many applications. You just wrap a whole head of it up in foil and bake it until it’s soft enough to be squeezed from its skin like a paste. I just used a small head of garlic in this recipe, but you could use more, or roast a larger head, use part of it, and refrigerate the rest to use later.

Since it starts with a vegetable, this might be little more healthy than many of the offerings in my dip repertoire (or Dip-ertoire?). I even tend to use reduced fat cream cheese and sour cream, because I find them to be a reasonable compromise between flavor and calories. I like to serve this dip with crackers or tortilla chips but celery sticks are also good if you like to take that health thing a little further. Pita chips would also be good, as would pretty much anything mildly-flavored but dippable that you might keep around to accompany your own Dipretoire. Snack on, good people, snack on!

Roasted Red Pepper, Garlic, and Onion Dip Recipe
You could use jarred roasted red peppers and skip the roasting steps.

2 large red bell peppers
about ¼ large yellow onion
1 small whole garlic head
1 ¼ teaspoon olive oil, divided
½ cup sour cream or plain yogurt
½ cup cream cheese (4 ounces)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

1. To roast the peppers: preheat the broiler. Place the whole peppers on a baking sheet and position them in the oven rack position closest to the broiler. Broil, turning the peppers as each section gets charred until the skin of the peppers is blackened all over.

2. Place the peppers in a bowl and cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. The peppers will steam themselves, allowing the skin to be removed. Let stand for 20 minutes or until the peppers are cool enough to handle easily.

3. Remove the peppers from the bowl and peel off the blackened skins. Remove the stem, seeds, and any tough membranes from the peppers. Place the roasted pepper flesh in a food processor.

4. To roast the garlic and onion: reduce the oven temperature to 400 F. Chop the onion coarsely and place on a piece of aluminum foil large enough to wrap it. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon olive oil and wrap in the foil. Remove the outer, papery skin from the garlic head. Keep the cloves intact and attached to each other. Place the garlic on a piece of aluminum foil large enough to wrap it. Drizzle with remaining ¼ teaspoon olive oil. Wrap in the foil.

5. Place the wrapped garlic and onion in the oven and roast at 400 F for 45 minutes, or until the garlic is very soft. Unwrap and set aside until cool enough to handle. Place the onion in the food processor with the peppers. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the cloves and into the food processor.

6. To make the dip: process the peppers, onion and garlic in the food processor until well chopped.

7. Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Transfer to a bowl and chill until ready to serve (it’s also good at room temperature). Serve with chips, crackers or vegetable sticks.