bring on the tomatoes

Deborah
Years ago, when I was a very young girl, long before my mother hit the Gourmet magazines and learned how to cook, my favorite winter day treat was a bowl of Campbell's tomato soup. We would make it with a can of milk instead of water and swirl a dot of butter in the bowl letting it melt into the hot soup. The preferred accompaniment was saltine crackers topped with more butter. Yum yum. I was a salt freak from a very young age and this meal was the jackpot.

It has been a long time since I have had Campbell's tomato soup, and of course I now make my own. But when I consider making it as a winter treat I run into a dilemma. Fresh tomatoes found in the market this time of year are not worthy of anything, hard and mealy as they may be. My solution has been to come up with a soup recipe I call Winter Tomato Soup, a name which makes me snicker with skepticism, except I made it up myself. To start things off I break one of my cardinal rules and actually buy a few hard mealy tomatoes. Yes, I admit it.
If I had been lucky enough this summer to come across a batch of tomatoes in season that I could have frozen, well then, that would be a different story. But what with the tomato blight and all, well, alas.

To these sad dreary pale sorry excuses of a soup base I add lots of yummy WINTERY things like leeks and carrots and onions. So, the soup is more of a mixed vegetable puree, like a V8 as it were. The tomatoes don't do much of the talking, they are there to lend a little color and acidity. I play a lot with the seasoning of salt and pepper and add sugar to complete the balance because you really can't predict how much flavor your vegetables are going to have this time of year. Even carrots are now out of the ground and sitting in cold storage for a few months. Ok, maybe they came from Mexico or someplace, but if they are from say, Florida, they might well be covered in icicles this week, what with the temperature drop.

Tomatoes out of season will have a pronounced white center .

Winter root vegetables will bring substance and flavor to the tomato soup.

Any mix of root vegetables will work for his recipe. Roughly chop them to approximately equal size so they will cook at the same rate.

This soup does not exactly reach the nirvana heights of my early experiences with Campbell's, but my tastes have changed and I have come to appreciate this stand-in which can actually hold its own at the table. It comes together nicely and the sweet tart blend of vegetables will do the trick on a cold day. Serve with saltines if you like!

Winter Tomato Soup
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 leek, roughly chopped
3 cups root vegetables, roughly chopped (any combination of carrot, turnip, rutabega, parsnip)
4 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 teas. salt
1/2 tsp. ground pepper
1 Tbs.sugar
2 cups water
1 Tbs. butter

Heat oil in a large sauce pan. Add onions and root vegetables and 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper and lightly sweat the vegetables for five minutes till they just begin to soften around the edges. While the root vegetables are sweating, add 1/2 a teaspoon of salt to the chopped tomatoes and toss in  bowl. Allow the tomatoes to marinate in the salt for a few minutes until the juice begins to flow out.  Add the tomatoes and their juices to the pot and add 2 cups of water. Bring soup to a simmer and cook uncovered for about 30 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft when pierced with a knife.

Allow the soup to cool for a few minutes before pureeing in batches in a food processor. If you want a smoother texture, strain soup in a colander after pureeing. Return soup to a clean pot and TASTE! Adjust seasoning, add a Tbs. butter,  heat and serve.

Finish with an additional little pat of butter in each bowl if you are feeling indulgent!

Amanda
I have to say I only acquired a taste for tomato soup in my later years. Don't get me wrong - I always have loved tomatoes. But for some reason, it's something I was never exposed to much as a kid. I was always a Campbell's Chicken Soup kinda girl - you remember the one with the "curly" pasta. Loved it! Never was big on the tomato soup. Didn't make much sense since I loved all things tomato. But I have developed a taste for it and now find it very satisfying.


The acidity in the soup from the tomatoes will require a wine with low tannins. I would go for a wine that is notoriously delicious with pizza - for the same reason.  My choice for this recipe would be Barbera. Barbera hails from Italy, and is the second most widely planted grape in the country, next to Sangiovese. Look to the Piedmont for the highest quality Barbera. Though, nowadays Barbera can be found in other places like Slovenia and California. I love Barbera from California! Typically, Barbera will exhibit flavors and aromas of red fruit, and may have some undertones of smoke, vanilla, or toast which come as a result of barrel ageing.


One of my favorite Barberas is the Vietti Barbera d'Asti Tre Vigne 2007, which comes from Piedmont. Vietti makes fabulous wines in general. Antonio Galloni from The Wine Advocate calls it "one of Italy's finest values" as it retails for under $20. Smoky, clean and silky, the wine exhibits nice juicy fruit and would certainly shine next to Deb's Winter Tomato Soup!

Dinner Simplicity

Deborah

Halloween is over and still the weather remains magnificent!

The sky was so clear this weekend it was impossible not to stay outdoors. We actually grilled lunch in our backyard on Saturday. After a long hike on Sunday dinner plans needed to be simple. Stir fry seemed to be the way to go. This is the perfect way to clear out all the odds and ends in the fridge and make everything palatable again.

I like to cut carrots into what I call a ROUGH julienne. Not so fussy as a classic julienne, but still with slim angular shapes. I decided to combine the carrots with a few leaves of swiss chard I had on hand.

Hot oil in the wok gets seasoned with chopped garlic and ginger (about a Tbs of each), then the carrots and roughly chopped chard gets a quick cook. I finished the dish with a drizzle of soy sauce, rice vinegar and a tablespoon of oyster sauce.

The chard really cooked down and the carrots kept their shape and firmness. This dish really tasted good and was very simple to prepare.

A large batch of fried rice is always popular with my WHOLE family. Amazing. I chopped up about a cup each of cabbage and onions. I had a half of a cooked sweet potato left over that got cubed up to be included in the mix.

Celery chopped on an angle helps it to stir fry quickly and still keep the crunchy texture.

I like to add something green to the fried rice. I used edamame rummaged from the freezer. Peas and green beans work well too.

Again, I season the oil with garlic and ginger, then add all the vegetables to soften up and get a little golden.

When the vegetables are about done I added cooked rice. After tossing the rice around for awhile I created a well in the center of the wok and poured in 3 beaten eggs which I quickly scrambled and then stirred to combine with the rice. To finish I added 2 Tbs. tomato paste, a splash of soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil.

We ate really well and I managed to get a myriad of vegetables into everyone's belly with a minimum of fuss to boot. Is there a wine that would complement this meal Amanda? Alan had a glass of merlot, but we both agreed it was not a particularly inspired pairing.

Amanda

I would have to agree on the Merlot. It would not necessarily be my first choice. If red is the preferred wine for these dishes, I would recommend something a little lighter with plenty of fruit, like a Barbera from Italy. It is the most cultivated vine in the region of Piedmont. I would definitely go with a younger Barbera, which  typically has fresh and bright fruit. Due to the low level of tannins, the wine is soft, and elegant. Barbera is a very versatile, food friendly varietal and often results in easy-drinking reds. You can definitely find Barberas in a variety of price ranges, from $10-$30. There are plenty of well-made wines out there for under $15 though. Some of my favorite producers for this wonderfully food-friendly wine are Vietti and Giacomo Conterno.

So, Barbera would be my first choice for red. That being said, my personal preference would actually be Rose. Something again with an abundance of fruit. In my opinion, the ripe fruit flavor of the wines would create a nice harmony and balance with the saltiness of the soy sauce. One of my favorite Roses is the Crios Rose of Malbec from Susana Balbo. It is full, rich and loaded with fruit and spice. I think this would be the ideal match for these recipes.  Susana Balbo is one of my favorite producers from Argentina. She creates more expensive wines under her own name. The Crios wines make up her line of more affordable wines, though the less expensive pricetag is no reflection of quality. Her Crios wines typically sell in the $15 price range. Though the Rose of Malbec can be found for around $10. If you can find her wines locally, I highly recommend them. They are truly special!