soups on!

I swear...I wait all summer long for the temperature to dip below 15 degrees Celcius (59 degrees Farenheit for all you Americans). Don't get me wrong, I love summer, but at 15 degrees, I can wear jeans all day long without having them stick to my legs...I can flat iron my hair and not end up looking like frizzy poodle by the end of the day...and I can make a big pot of soup without turning our apartment into a sweat shop.
Soup is one of my all time favourite meals. Served with a side of fresh bread, some cheese and crackers, grilled cheese sandwiches...hmmm...it just brings me back to Sunday afternoons after church. I'm sure all you Dutchies can relate! Any true Dutch mom makes a big pot of soup on Saturday and the family gathers 'round on Sunday afternoons to a big spread of soup and buns, a big hunk of Dutch cheese (Gouda for anyone scratching their head), and possibly Boterhamworst (if someone had made it to Ramaker's that week).
My mom's typical Sunday soup was nothing you could ever write a recipe for. While it was kindly referred to as "fridge soup" in our house, that's exactly what it was! Whatever was in the fridge that week...some vegetables that were starting to go bad, a half empty jar of spaghetti sauce, a couple sausages from last nights dinner...it all went into the soup! It was never the same, but it was always good!
This soup is slightly more structured than "fridge soup". A sudden abundance of tomatoes in my fridge had me scouring for the best possible tomato soup recipe, and as I have always been a fan, I counted on the Barefoot Contessa to stear me in the right direction. While I varied slightly from the original recipe, the results were still amazing! After making this big batch for just the two of us, I was really able to experiment with it for the next week. This soup tastes great just as it is...feel free to grate some sharp cheese in it, drizzle it with a bit of olive oil or cream, or even toss in some croutons. It can also double as a marinara sauce to pour over pasta and, as I ran out of pizza sauce this week, I used it on top of pizza crust and it turned out amazing too! You could toss in some chicken or ground beef if you're looking for something heartier, or even some fresh seafood for a spin on seafood chowder! It really is the soup that keeps on giving.

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

- (~4) cups of ripe tomatoes cut in half lengthwise (Roma tomatoes work great, but any kind works)
- (1/4) cup plus 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- (1) tbsp of salt
- (1 1/2) tsp of freshly ground pepper
- (8-10) cloves of garlic (I know...crazy!!!)
- (2) cups of chopped yellow onions (about 2 onions)
- (2) tbsp of butter
- (1/2) tsp crushed red pepper flakes (add more or less depending on your preference)
- (1) 28 oz. can of plum tomatoes (whole, diced, or crushed...however you prefer)
- (4) cups of fresh basil leaves
- (1) quart (946 mL) of chicken stock or water

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Farenheit. Toss your halved tomatoes with 1/4 cup of olive oil, salt, pepper and about 4 or 5 cloves of garlic (whole). Spread tomatoes and garlic out on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes. If you're using some smaller tomatoes such as cherry or grape tomatoes, keep an eye on them as they have much less liquid in them and tend to roast faster.

In the meantime, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the butter and the red pepper flakes over medium heat in a large stockpot. Mince the remaining garlic and add to the oil along with the chopped onions. Saute for about 10 minutes or until the onions start to brown.

Add the canned tomatoes (I ended up using about 3 cups of pureed Roma tomatoes instead), the fresh basil and the chicken stock. Don't worry if you don't have the full 4 cups of fresh basil, just what you have. And if you don't have fresh basil, freeze dried or regular dried basil works too. I totally recommend trying to get your hands on the real stuff, but substituting a couple heaping teaspoons of dried basil will still taste great!

Add the oven-roasted tomatoes along with any liquid left on the baking sheet.

Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. At this point you can do as you like...leave the soup as it is - super chunky, puree it slightly using an immersion blender, a regular blender or a food mill, or completely puree the soup until it's totally smooth. I like my soup with a bit of texture, so I just gave it a few quick buzzes using my immersion blender.

Season to taste and enjoy! This soup can last for at least a week in the fridge, but throw it in the freezer and it will taste just as delicious next time you heat it up!

the travelling basil.

My goal this summer was to grow some fresh herbs from seed. Being that I love to cook, I know the huge difference it makes when you use fresh herbs versus dried, so I figured I'd give it a shot. How hard could it really be! I've worked in a greenhouse for at least a third of my life, so I must have picked up something along the way. My husband and I made the trip to our local Canadian Tire to pick up some supplies and (after a long debate at the CT about the cost effectiveness of growing versus buying fresh herbs) we were on our way. What are husbands for if not to give you grief when you spend too much money :)
Living in an apartment in downtown Montreal, my little seedlings definitely had some barriers stunting their growth. Not only do we have a very limited outdoor space, but what we have is completely surrounded by three other 12 story buildings. The 10 minutes of total sunshine they received each day may have been the clincher, so yes Tom...you told me so :)
As we like to travel home to the Niagara Region quite frequently, I had no choice but to bring my little seedlings along with me, as sad as they were. It had been over a month and they had barely grown more than an inch or two. There is a reason why Niagara is known as the Green Belt. All it took was a week of Niagara sun and fresh air and my basil were golden! They grew more in the one week we were in Niagara than they had for a whole month in Montreal.
And so the story continues. Every time Joe and I decided to drive home for the weekend, all my basil was loaded into a cardboard box and transported back and forth with us. It became the running joke when we'd pull up to the house after an 8 hour drive and haul a big box of fresh basil out of the back seat! But boy did I end up with a ton of healthy, hearty fresh basil.
As much as I've tried to use my basil all summer long...putting it in salads, tossing some leaves in our pasta, shredding some on top of pizza...I just couldn't use all that I had grown. What better opportunity to make pesto! Pesto works with just about everything. We toss it in our spaghetti, spread it on a pizza crust to make white pizza, you can add it to your eggs...the possibilities are endless!


Basil Pesto

- (2) cups of fresh basil leaves
- (1/4) cup of toasted pine nuts
- (2) cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
- (1/2) cup of freshly grated parmasan cheese or romano cheese
- (1/4) cup of extra virgin olive oil

Lightly toast pine nuts in a frying pan on the stove or in the oven. Make sure to keep an eye on them frequently as they tend to burn quickly (and are really expensive!!!) Set them aside and allow them to cool.

Thoroughly wash and dry all your basil leaves and measure out roughly 2 cups.

If you have a large, quality food processor, you can add all the basil in at once, but if you're working with a smaller food processor or a mini chopper, you will most likely have to do this in batches. In traditional Italian methods you would be chopping everything by hand, but who's got the patience for that :)
I was using a mini chopper, and so I did everything in small batches, adding a little extra basil each time. The goal is to add all the basil, the pine nuts and the garlic into a food processor and pulse until you achieve the desired consistency. You want to end up with a finely chopped paste, but not too finely chopped, pesto should still have some texture to it. Once you have finished processing the pesto, scoop the paste into a seperate bowl.

Finely grate about 1/2 of a cup of fresh parmasan cheese.

Stir both the parmasan cheese and the olive oil into the pesto. You don't want the pesto to be too dry or too oily, so add in the oil a little bit at a time until it becomes moist but not runny.

Now your pesto is ready to enjoy! In a sealed container, you can keep the pesto in the fridge for at least a week, but if you're not going to use it all right away, you're better off to freeze it. I actually took small pieces of Glad Press and Seal (cellophane or wax paper will work too) and made individual packets with about a tablespoon or so in each. I twisted the packets up tightly and threw them all in a ziploc bag together. You can store the bag in the freezer for months, and everytime you want to add a little pesto to your pasta, pizza, or favourite dish...presto...pesto!!!