Soup is always the answer
Especially this Slow-Roasted Tomato number
I can hardly believe I am finding the time to write to you this week! After many months of recipe development, the baby is about to be birthed! Starting on Saturday, I have a very capable team of people descending on my home and we will be creating the photography for my as-yet-untitled COOKIE book. It’s exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. Everything has to come together perfectly, and organization is key for keeping things moving on schedule. Every minute costs money, so if you aren’t prepared, things can go south fast. We will be a well-oiled machine, and I can’t wait to shoot 8 days in a row.
It’s rare for the author to also be the food stylist, but that’s how I work, and always have. It’s the most fun part! A few weeks ago, it occurred to me that we are shooting a cookie book, so we can’t eat the recipes we are cooking for lunch, which is what we usually do. Uh oh. I started to think about how I was going to feed everyone every day. Breakfast. And lunch. Yes, we could order lunches, but I didn’t really want to do that. I wanted our food to be healthy and delicious to sustain us on our arduous task.
I immediately thought of soup. I figured if I made batches of different soups and froze them, we’d have something ready to go for most days. I was hoping some of them would be enough for 2 days (not consecutive) but we’ll see how much people eat! We are a pretty small crew, but still.
The first soup I made was my Velvety Butternut and Cauliflower Soup, but I added a few sweet potatoes, because that makes it even more velvety and yummy. Soup #2 was my Poblano Corn Chowder from Veg Forward. I don’t have a linkable recipe for that one, but hopefully you have my book and can access it there. Corn is still going strong here, so I thought that would be a nice option. It’s light too—the vegetables create the thickness and creaminess.
Next came today’s recipe, Slow-Roasted Tomato Soup. I texted my friend Suzannah, who runs Marilee’s Farmstand in Sagaponack, to ask about boxes of plum tomatoes, which they always have this time of year. I was not prepared for the immense size of these plum tomatoes, but they were fantastic, and cheap. Only $10 for each “boat,” so $1 a pound!
I came home and got them right into the oven to roast, knowing they would make a richer tasting soup if slow-roasted first. I followed the simple recipe I shared a few years ago, but I skipped the garlic, because I was in a hurry. It made three big trays, and I didn’t use all of them in the soup.
Now I have what I think will be my final soup bubbling away on the stove: White Bean and Vegetable Soup. I used big white beans from Rancho Gordo that I had in the pantry, which yielded a delicious broth once cooked. A few of the extra tomatoes also found their way in there. I would have used some pork sausage, but one of our team doesn’t eat red meat, so I added some ground chicken to lend texture and heartiness. It looks and smells very good, and I may sample some for my dinner tonight.
If I have time after the shoot is over, I will make more tomato soup, because I would love to have a stash in the freezer for the cold months ahead.
Wish us luck!!!
