I arrived in Dublin yesterday in time to see Elly make some soup for a late lunch. A new recipe to me it all looked very interesting. It was so good I went back for seconds! So I handed over my blog for the second day in a row and asked Elly to share her recipe with all of us.
Elly’s Tomato Soup
- 18 Tomatoes
- 2 Sweet red peppers, each cut into 8 pieces
- 1 Sweet Potato, cut into 1-inch dice
- 1 Onion (red or white, depending on preference), cut into 8 chunks
- 1 Bulb Garlic, outer papery layers removed, top cut carefully off so that the roasted cloves can be easily squeezed out.
- Olive Oil
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Oregano / Rosemary / Herbs to taste
- 1 litre veggie stock (2 cubes)
- Parmesan heel
Pre heat oven to 180°C. Using a knife, remove the stem & core from each of the tomatoes, leaving each one like a little bowl. Place the tomatoes, onion and red pepper pieces into a oven-proof dish. Salt liberally, then drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sprinkle on some herbs.
Put the sweet potato chunks and the garlic bulb into another oven-proof dish, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with herbs of choice. Roast both trays in the oven for a least an hour, until all is tender.
Add the roasted veg and all the pan juices into a large saucepan and pour in 1 litre veggie stock. Break up the veg as best you can with a wooden spoon and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring regularly. I add in a heel of a finished piece of parmesan at this point, which adds incredible richness and creaminess to the soup. Being my mother’s daughter, I also added a swig of vermouth at this point.
After simmering, remove the parmesan heel and discard, then blend the soup with a hand blender or food processor until smooth. Simmer for another few mins, adding salt/pepper to taste. Serve simply, with some fresh bread.
In Dublin, woo!
Pity I’m busy all week… you still around Thursday sometime? 🙂
Hi ChrisD,
Once again I am enjoying 5* treatment at The Elly & George Hotel! Breakfast served in bed was yummy although the staff uniforms were rather casual! 😉 At this stage I am only planning as far as tomorrow. One day at a time is my rule for the week.
Makes me wish I could stay there as well! 😀
Hi Elly,
Nice to see you… About that garlic bulb. So you are supposed to take off those papery bits on the outside. I never knew that. No wonder people are always picking stuff off of their lips while eating my soup…. Wow, it was disgusting.. Now I can put a stop to that, thanks to your excellent directions…..
Mmmm! If there’s any left, I’ll be around shortly 😉
I love anything made with roasted veg. I grow courgettes every year and always end up with a glut of them so I think I’ll adapt this recipe to make roasted tomato and courgette soup in the summer!
Oh I can hardly wait to make this soup, Elly, it sounds to die, never heard of plopping in the Parmesan before….
XO
WWW
Where does the swig go? If you’re like my Auntie Nora then I think I know!
This sounds like a fantastic recipe..
Steph…courgette chutney? Use a marrow recipe!
Perfect, I have left over roast veg from Sunday and tomatoes are cheap as chips! Tonight’s dinner is sorted. Maybe with a nice sun dried tomato pull apart!
Oh! that sounds divine I can’t wait to try it. Speaking of courgettes, has anyone tried stuffing the flowers with ricotta and chillies then dipping them in tempura batter and lightly deep frying them? Might go well with your sumptuous tomato soup. Many thanks Elly and Grannymar.
Scrumptious…. can’t remember what they call them…it’s an Italian thing I think..
Hi Steph,
I had no idea what a courgette was. I looked it up on Wikipedia and there it was…..A good old zucchini….
Almost everyone in our neighborhood has a garden and we usually end up with hundreds of zucchinis.
We all have to keep our car doors locked most of the Summer or someone will sneak their extra zucchini into your back seat.
I think they all have a million ways to cook zucchini but your idea coupled with Elly’s tomato soup sounds like a great lunch or dinner…..If I had the slightest idea how to cook I would try it…
Hi! Nancy
You’re priceless! How do you do it? You always succeed in reducing me to tears of laughter with your wonderful sense of humour.
I now have this lovely image of zucchinis marching down your street…
“Zucchinis in pyjamas are coming down the stairs,
Zucchinis in pyjamas are coming down in pairs,
Zucchinis in pyjamas are chasing teddy bears,
‘cos on Tuesdays they all try to catch them unawares!” 😀
Hi Steph,
I guess we will just take over Grannymar’s Blog today. I just loved your teddy Bear poem about the pajamas…. Fun!
On a horse farm in Kentucky they accidently got a zebra instead of a horse. The zebra tried real hard to blend in with the other horses but she didn’t understand a lot of things. Like what the Stallion did.
So, she went over to him and asked,”What do you do here on the farm?”
The stallion looked at her and said,” Take those pajamas off and I’ll show you what I do.!!!”
@ Nancy 😆
At this stage, Grannymar is probably in the Guinness Storehouse showing them how to cook properly using Guinness.
One swig for Grannymar,
none for the recipe,
one swig for Grannymar,
none for… 😀
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all your Irish in Ireland and to all we Irish across the pond, or wherever ye’ may be. May ye’ catch the little Leprecahns dancin’ their jig.
We’re all Irish today.
Hi Steph,
I don’t doubt it. If I know GM,she’ll also be having them add vinegar to the recipe….Hmmmmm.. She puts vinegar in everything from window washing spray to constipation remedies..
Well, Nancy
There are enough windows in the Guinness Storehouse (see circular bar at top of building) to keep Grannymar very busy with her vinegar window cleaner!
“The jewel in the crown of the GUINNESS STOREHOUSE® is GRAVITY®, the bar in the sky. This powerful symbol of GUINNESS® in the 21st century hovers above the roof of the STOREHOUSE®, with an incredible 360-degree view over the Dublin skyline.”
http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/GuinnessFood.aspx
No need for constipation remedies at that height! 😆
That sounds absolutely delicious! I’ll have to give it a try this weekend – may even find some vermouth hiding in the back of the liquor cabinet!
Well, Steph, I took your advice and visited the Guinness storehouse site and the GRAVITY Bar in the Sky. SENSATIONAL……..
I even read the menu and selected a Bacon and Crispy Chicken salad and hold the beer. I’ll have a Black Velvet please… Price is no object!
Make that two Black Velvets..My friend,Steph will be here any minute.
Here I am, Nancy
Better late than never! What’s that you said?
“Hell…ooooooooooo Shun…shine”
Nancy, you haven’t! Please tell me you haven’t drunk this bar dry?
And I was really looking forward to trying a Black Velvet 🙁
I wonder if Grannymar can tell me what it’s like?
Steph,
This is the third day that GM hasn’t shown up for work.
How long does she think we are going to carry her?
Oh, well, to start filling up GM’s space and keep her out of trouble, I will tell a small joke….
Two batteries walk into a bar and the bartender says” All right, I’ll serve you but don’t start anything.”
That sounds plumb scrumpdillyishous! Best of all is how easy to seems to be. This one will go in my collection to try. Thanks.
@ Nancy
I’d say Grannymar could use those batteries to get her going again after yesterday 😀
Maybe she’s getting used to the good life down South and has forgotten all about us, her loyal followers *sob* *sob*
Come back! Grannymar
WE MISS YOU!
Grannymar, how much soup does that recipe make? It sounds gorgeous, and I’d love to make up, but there are only two of in the house, so I don’t want loads. 18 tomatoes sounds like a lot!
Steph,
Since we are carrying on for GM, I suppose it’s up to us to answer all queries about the soup.Karen asked how much soup Elly’s recipe made. The truth is, I don’t know,do you? I am not a good judge of quantity.
Did I ever tell you about the turkey soup I made when I was first married? Well, My MIL gave me the recipe and it included rice. When I asked her how much rice, she said,”Oh, just a little.” So, to me a little rice was three cups…
After cooking about an hour I heard strange noises coming from the soup pot and when I looked the lid was rising off pot and a mass of rice was coming up but not spilling over because it was SOLID… A giant lump of rice was pushing the top of the pot toward the ceiling.
Just then my husband arrived home from work and taking one look at the pot and it’s contents asked me who I was cooking this rice for. He suggested that Ho Chi Mihn’s Army could be fed for about a week from that one pot of soup….
We ate the soup with a fork and it was delicious. What was left over was given to the Salvation Army for distribution to the deserving and uncomplaining.
So, sorry, Karen I am not the one to ask about how many serving this recipe provides for so I am turning this question over to my cohort,Steph ,for further clarification..Steph?
Right girls, I am back in the land of the living again. Things have certainly been lively while I was away.
@Karen – we had about 8 good sized bowls of soup from that potful. Why not make it up and freeze the left overs in portions for use at another time. I do that each time I make soup and it means that it can be defrosted quickly when in a hurry.
@ Nancy
We’ll get banned from this blog if we’re not careful 😀
I had heard your soup story before and I found it even funnier second time round.
Oh, oh… Grannymar is back. I’d better skidaddle fast Cya!
BTW She’s up to tricks with her vinegar again 🙄
Sorry for not popping in earlier everyone, but I’ve been mad busy at work, as mum can attest to!
@Steph – If you have some spare courgettes this year, I can think of a good home for them – my tummy!
@wisewebwoman – you can use the Parmesan in any soup to add beautiful richness and smoothness – plus, since very little of the rind disintegrates into the soup, I was still able to serve it to a dairy-allergic grannymar! Jut remember to scrub the rind clean first, you never know who has handled it!
@Magpie – one swig for the pot, one for the belly – you have to taste all your ingredients to make sure they haven’t spoiled!!
@Baino – you must give us that recipe for the sun-dried pull apart, sounds like fun! Maybe GM can feature it as a future recipe?
@Nancy – you’re a hoot as always! Thanks for keeping us all laughing every day – are you ever going to start your own blog? Or are you just saving all those stories for your memoirs??? 🙂
@maureen – if there’s no vermouth in the cupboard, then you can replace with white wine – it’s always a good excuse to open a new bottle!!
@Alice – it’s a brilliantly easy recipe and one that doesn’t need too much attention, which is what I like.
@Karen – as mum said, it gives a good 8 bowls – but it freezes really well. I freeze my sauce and soup in ziploc bags (the size have to use going through the airport these days), flat in the freezer. The double-lock ziploc ones don’t leak and because a portion only lies about a centimetre deep in them, they defrost in 20 mins (less if you put them in water), so are perfect to pull out of the freezer instead of calling take-away…
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