On August 26, 2013 I entered a post on Canning Tomatoes. Today I am adding to the process and making a batch of Tomato Soup - after the tomatoes have been cleaned, blanched, peeled, cored and put into jars. The tomatoes peels and cores are sitting in a large puddle of tomato juice that ran from my fingers as I peeled and cut the tomatoes. It would be such a waste to see this go to waste - my Mother and Baba/Grandmother taught me to use what you have and this is the result.....I took this one step further this year by reusing the skins once more by dehydrating them and grinding them into a powder to use later when seasoning soups, sauces or stews. This year when/if you can tomatoes I hope you try this soup! Na Zdarovye.
TOMATO SOUP (Baba and Mom's way)
You will need the tomato peels, cores and excess juice collected from peeling tomatoes for canning.
You will also need onions, garlic and celery stalks.
To finish the tomato soup you will need to add the ingredients above.
Potatoes and celery diced and waiting for the soup pot.
Browned flour for thickening the soup.
The browned flour mixed with milk waiting to be added to the tomato broth.
The browned flour has been added along with the rest of the ingredients.
This Tomato Soup is so tangy, velvety smooth and so delicious!
TOMATO SOUP RECIPE
Peels, cores and juices collected from the blanched, peeled and cored tomatoes.
Put this all into a large pot, add any amount of celery stalk, onions, garlic - to taste.
For a Dutch Oven I usually add 2 onions, quartered
6 - 8 cloves garlic, whole
1 - 2 stalk celery cut in chunks
seasoning salt (optional)
Place all the ingredients into a pot and cover. Bring to a boil, and then turn
down heat to low. Simmer on low for 4- 5 hours. After 5 hours removed the tomato skins and flavouring and place into a cheese cloth (or new pantyhose) squeeze out as much juice as you can.
Set aside the peel mixture. (see recipe for these below).
Place the tomato 'broth/stock' into a Dutch Oven and bring to a boil, add in
1/4 cup pearl barley
salt, pepper to taste
1/4 cup spaghetti noodles, broken up to 1 inch lengths
Season with salt and pepper
Simmer for 15 minutes then add:
1 medium potato, diced
Stir in: 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (to keep milk from curdling when added)
Stir in 1 - 11/2 cups milk, 1% or whole, your choice
Bring to a simmer and stir in the Browned Flour* (see method below)
You will notice the Browned Flour will start to thicken the soup and give it a lovely smooth texture.
Bring this back to a simmer, and simmer for 5- 10 minutes.
Remove from stove, season with salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy!
*Browned Flour
1 cup unbleached flour
Place flour onto a baking sheet and bake at 350 for approximately 10-12 minutes.
You want to see the flour with a nice light brown colour.
Remove from oven and place Browned Flour into a small bowl, break up any chunks and stir in milk to make a smooth runny mixture.
This will be used to thicken the soup and also because of the 'browning' of the flour you will be adding a lovely toasty flavour to your soup.
Taking the peels and flavorings once step further......
The peels and vegetables that have been squeezed of their juices and onto a pan for drying.
(these are the ones you have set aside in the cheesecloth/pantyhose)
Spread these peels out onto a parchment lined pan and bake at 175 degrees C until dry and crisp.
This may take several hours. If you have a dehydrator you can dry the peels on that.
Once the peel mixture is dry, place in batches in a coffee/spice grinder and grind to a powder.
Yum!
The finished product. Store in a jar in a cool spot.
Look and smells amazing, deep roasted tomatoes......perfect for adding to soups, sauces or stews -
to deepen the tomato flavour! My Baba would be proud that there was no waste with this Tomato Canning Session of 2014!
'Our BREATH is a profound gift. Breathe into your dreams. Breathe through the difficult places. Breath in JOY. Just Breathe.'
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