Month: March 2010

Mr Thick had commented that the previous tomato soup that I had concocted tasted “raw” (remember, this is the same man who thinks that fish is NOT MEAT) so I decided to “cook” the tomatoes a little before turning them into liquid food.

Well, it did taste a lot nicer after I roasted them in the oven. I had made a huge tub of it (I never learn, it seems) but this time, I was pretty happy with having leftovers because it meant that my lunch for the next day was provided for and we all know that soups taste a lot better the day after.

Roasted tomato soup
What you need:

• 1kg tomatoes of mixed variety (I used plum, cheap cooking tomatoes and cherry)
• 850ml of stock, either vegetable or chicken
• 4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 small onions, thinly sliced
• A knob of butter
• A dash of olive oil
• A handful of parsley
• A handful of basil
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste

Directions:

• Pre-heat your oven to 220 degree Celsius
• Quarter the big tomatoes and deseed them
• Chop the cherry tomatoes into half
• Spread the tomato and garlic out on a baking dish, taking care that they do not cover one another
• Drizzle olive oil on each slice of tomato, followed by a sprinkling of salt and pepper
• Stick the tomatoes into the oven and roast for between 20 to 30 minutes
• Heat up some olive oil and butter in a pot over medium heat
• Fry the onions till they become soft and translucent
• Add the roasted tomatoes and garlic into the pot and stir fry it for about 5 minutes
• Roughly chop up the herbs and add that into the pot, save for little pinch
• Add in the stock and let the soup simmer for about 30 minutes
• Let the soup cool down for 15 minutes
• Stick the immersion blender in and whiz everything up into liquid
• Serve up with croutons or a sprinkling of parsley and basil

How many servings did this yield, I hear you ask. Well. It fitted nicely into four plastic containers but beyond that, I cannot tell you more. I think it would have served six comfortably as a starter but alas, we had too much food during the picnic so we ended up polishing only one box.

If you are not as lazy as I am, you can skin the tomatoes – I’ve read that chucking the tomatoes in boiling water for a minute can help you to remove the skins in a jiffy. You won’t, as I did, end up chewing bits of tomato skin and the soup will definitely be a lot smoother. I also had to chew through green stems from the parsley so it might do you good to just use the leaves.

I know, lemonade is not really a meal in itself but I figured that given the amount of effort one needs to exert in order to get a jug of it, surely it can be ranked on par with food. Trust me, trying to wring a lemon dry is like trying to break Arnie’s hand while you are shaking it – IMPOSSIBLE.

This may look nice and dandy:

but it sure took a hell lot of strength to get there.

Lemonade

What you need:

• 6 lemons (or enough juice to fill 1 cup)
• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of sugar (I used 3/4 cup instead because I didn’t want it to be too sweet)
• Zest of 1 lemon

Directions:

• Combine sugar, zest, water and lemon juice in a sauce pan
• Heat over a gentle flame for about 5 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved to form a syrup
• Add cold water to syrup for lemonade, depending on your taste, and remember to add lots of ice!

As simple as that! Or so it sounds. I had to call for reinforcement in the form of a husband who was mopping the floor. Squeeze the lemon as hard as you can, I instructed. He did and, oh, two drops of juice dripped out into the bowl? (Don’t worry, he washed his hands before doing that. Or did he?)

I’ve read that sticking the lemons into a microwave oven for one minute can help to release the juice but we don’t have one at home so I had to settle for the old fashioned “roll the lemon on the countertop using your entire body weight” method. Then, there was also the hassle of getting all the seeds out of the juice. Messy, messy.

But the end result, I was told, was worth it. Just remember the ratio of one (cup of juice) : one (cup of sugar) : one (cup of water). Works everytime.

Continuing the story of my soups for the sickly, I dropped by the supermarket after seeing the doc’s and grabbed a kilo of tomatoes. Only to realise, upon coming home, that I only needed about 500g of it to make a tomato soup that serves four.

Gah.

Anyway. I was inspired by Laura Calder‘s French Food at Home, which I had watched on telly the night before. She’s gorgeous, isn’t she? She makes cooking French food look so easy and breezy. In that episode, she was supposedly making a birthday champagne lunch for a friend and on the menu was Summer Tomato Soup with Basil and Croutons.

Did someone say tomato? Ding!

Summer tomato soup with Basil and Croutons
Adapted from Laura Calder’s recipe
What you need:

• 500g of ripe tomatoes, chopped and deseeded
• 1 can of stewed tomatoes
• Half a cucumber, rough chopped
• A handful of breadcrumbs
• 1 clove of garlic, smashed
• Half an onion, roughly chopped
• A handful of basil leaves, preferably fresh
• 1 cup vegetable stock or tomato juice
• Handful of croutins
• Truffle oil, to taste
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• Cayenne pepper, to taste
• Slice of bread for croutons
• Butter, a knob, for croutons

Directions:

• Mix the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, breadcrumbs and garlic in a glass bowl
• Add the stock and basil leaves and leave to marinate in the fridge for 3 to 4 hours
• Make your croutons just before pureeing the soup: dice the bread into 1cm thick cubes. Heat a knob of butter into a frying pan and add the bread cubes. Fry until they turn crispy.
• Puree the tomato mixture, and season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper
• Add a drizzle of truffle oil and top with basil leaves and croutons

I didn’t have the time to marinate it for 12 hours as suggested, nor did the NTUC Fairprice I went to sell red wine vinegar. These two steps would probably lend a richer taste but for someone who lacked time, this was good enough.

Mr Thick thought that it tasted a bit raw, which it does since nothing was cooked or fried. Except for the croutons, which he didn’t have because I ate up every piece by accident. He was not a happy camper to see just one small scrap of bread that I had missed sitting in the frying pan. Oops.

It made for a strange bedfellow with my rice and chicken dish, since it was chilled and slightly on the bland side. On its own, however, it was a nice appetizer for the insufferable hot evenings we have been having.