Favourite Recipes: Roasted Tomato and Garlic Soup

This roasted tomato and roasted garlic soup will mark the start of a series of posts on my favorite recipes from around the web.  I’ve been making this soup for years, since almost flipping past it on Rachael Ray’s show.  Yep, it’s 100% Rachael Ray; I haven’t even significantly tweaked it.  It’s perfect already!  Check out the full recipe here.

It’s the ideal time of year to find perfectly ripe and dirt-cheap roma tomatoes.  Seeing the abundance of these beauties at the store a few days prompted me to make a double batch of this ultra-healthy soup.  (It freezes really well, so I like to make lots and freeze half.)

At this point, I’ve made this recipe enough times that I’ve stopped measuring things and just go with the flow.  I generally use more tomatoes than called for, and more garlic (surprise surprise!).  For this batch, I bought a ton of tomatoes and used as many as I could fit on two baking sheets, and five heads of garlic.  I use my own homemade broth, but you could certainly use whatever store-bought veggie broth you prefer.

One tweak I like is to hold off on adding the fresh herbs (I use parsley and basil) to the tomatoes before roasting; rather, I add them to the soup just before pureeing, in order to keep the herbs tasting fresh and bright.  Also, instead of pureeing in multiple messy batches in the food processor, I use an immersion blender right in the soup pot (ensuring that the soup is not hot before blending).

As an aside, I love to make mashed potatoes (or half-and-half mashed potatoes and cauliflower) to serve with this soup.  It’s the ultimate comfort-food combination.  I actually have gotten into the habit of putting a big scoop of mash into the bowl before covering it with soup and eating them together…. I know, it sounds weird, but if you try it I bet you’ll like it!

This soup (with or without mash) is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.  Some people may be surprised by a tomato soup without a creamy component, but they are quickly convinced.  It’s a fantastic, easy, and healthy recipe to add to your repertoire.  Thanks Rachael Ray!

Super Sandwich

I’ve called this the Super Sandwich because it’s super easy, super healthy, and SUPER delicious.  And if your kitchen is anything like mine, you’ll pretty much always have the ingredients on hand.  The raw garlic (either rubbed or added in) is key to elevating this above a plain tomato/avocado sandwich.

This sandwich has been a staple of my diet my years.  I eat one of these for lunch several times a week, and I’m still not the tiniest bit tired of them.  It uses ingredients I always have on hand and takes only a few minutes to prepare. Virtually everyone who spends much time at my home has eaten one of these, and the reviews are invariably glowing.  It seems like (and is!) a very simple sandwich…. Just make one.  Then you’ll understand.

Per Sandwich:

• 2 slices whole-grain bread (or bread of choice)
• Drizzle of olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, sliced in half lengthwise
• ½ avocado, sliced
• 1 smallish tomato, sliced (or some slices of a big one)
• Handful of baby spinach leaves

1. Pop the bread in the toaster.  If you’re using something thick like ciabatta that won’t fit in a toaster, put the slices in the oven at 300 (no need to preheat) for a couple of minutes until warm and slightly browned.

2. Drizzle olive oil on one slice of bread.  Rub it in using the cut side of the garlic.  (If, like me, you are a garlic fiend, chop both halves of the garlic clove after this step.)

3. On the other slice of bread, arrange the avocado slices and mash them in a bit.  Don’t get too vigorous, or you’ll crush the bread.  (Garlic Fiend optional step: sprinkle the chopped garlic over the avocado.)

4. Layer the tomato and spinach on top of the avocado.

5. Close the sandwich and cut in half.

I usually serve this with baby carrots and olives.

Endless variations!  You can add just about anything to this sandwich.  Two of my favorite add-ins are artichokes and arugula.