Hello everyone! This summer has been rather lazy in the cooking department. For meals, I've mostly made things I'm familiar with because the humidity sometimes get so bad I don't even want to think very hard.
Suddenly, it was September and I realized if I was going to do anything special with fresh tomatoes, I should probably do it now or not until next year.
I'm losing my job (anyone need an IT Project Manager?) at the end of September, so comfort food is called for. Last time I made tomato soup, the results were not my favorite, though I definitely learned a few things.
This recipe intrigued me. I love white beans, though I usually have them in a salad with tuna. Hey, protein! Definitely makes the soup heartier, and the recipe is also easily adaptable to serve my vegan friends. Plus, I don't usually get enough vegetables in a given day/week anyway.
The comments on this recipe ranged from OMG I love it to I Had to Adjust. So, I adjusted quite a bit.
Our ingredients:
- 3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling (mild grump here for having to capitalize Tablespoon all over this recipe.)
- 1 large onion, chopped (I also threw in a shallot)
- 5 cloves garlic, smashed
- Kosher salt
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste (I doubled this because one of the comments had mentioned they thought the recipe bland and they added both sugar and vinegar)
- 2 pounds tomatoes, chopped (I used Roma, which several recipes I looked at recommended for soup. I also threw in some leftover cherry tomatoes I had in the apartment)
- 2 15-ounce cans no-salt-added white beans, drained and rinsed (I could not find no-salt-added, so I went with low sodium and rinsed them twice)
- 1 quart low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth (I used vegetable here)
- 1 sprig rosemary, plus 1 teaspoon chopped leaves (I used four)
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, plus more for sprinkling (I doubled this)
- 4 cups cubed ciabatta bread (about 4 ounces)
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (about 2 ounces)
- Heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion, 3 garlic cloves (try 5) and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, 5 minutes (15). Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring occasionally, 1 minute (5). Add all but 1/2 cup of the chopped tomatoes (I threw in them all, I'll explain why in a bit), the beans, broth, 1 cup water (1/2 Cup chicken broth, 1/2 cup water), the rosemary sprig(2), red pepper flakes and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer 20 minutes.
