Roasted Tomato Soup a la Mexicana

This delicious recipe was inspired by a NYTimes podcast of “The Minimalist” Mark Bittman. The main difference is that I use fresh tomatoes and spiced it up with green chiles to give it a Mexican flare.


This recipe yields 4 appetizer size servings. There are three main processes to this recipe:

1 – Steam-cook the tomatoes (15-20 minutes)

Ingredients:
- 10-12 very ripe plum tomatoes, skinned*
- 1 jalapeno pepper, sliced
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- ½ yellow onion, chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ cup of celery, chopped
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning mix or fresh mix of oregano, rosemary, and basil
- 1 tsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil

Preparation:

1. You’ll need a medium-sized pot with a tight-fitting lid.
2. Mix all the ingredients the pot, keeping the tomatoes whole.
3. Cover and steam at medium heat until the tomatoes begin to fall apart (about 10-15 minutes).

2 – Roast the tomatoes (15-20 minutes)

1. Scoop out just the tomatoes from the pot, draining them as much as possible, and set aside.
2. Drain the remaining stuff from the pot into a bowl making sure to squeeze the juice out of all the ingredients, and set aside the broth.
3. Place the tomatoes in a cookie sheet or oven tray.
4. Drizzle the tomatoes lightly with some olive oil and oregano.
5. Put in the oven at 450 and bake until the tomatoes begin to brown at the tops.
6. Remove tomatoes from the tray and scrape off any brown crispiness on the tray using some of the tomato broth that was set aside.

3 – Make the soup (8-12 minutes)

Ingredients:
- Remaining tomato broth that was previously set aside
- 4 cups of chicken broth (preferably home-made)
- 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
- ½ red onion
- 1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
- ¼ fresh parsley or cilantro, coarsely chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Sautee the garlic and onion in the olive oil until the onion is translucent.
2. Add the carrots and sautee for another two minutes.
3. Add the tomato and chicken broths.
4. Add the roasted tomatoes.
5. Add salt and pepper, if desired.
6. Let it boil for about 5 minutes.
7. Add the fresh parsley or cilantro and let boil for another 2 minutes.
8. Remove from heat.
9. Serve in a medium sized bowl and drizzle some fresh cheese (Cotija or Parmesan) and eat with a nice crusty bread!

* for skinning the tomatoes, I boil some water in a pot, and drop each tomato for 20-30 seconds. Take the tomato out, rinse with cold water and proceed to peel with fingers or with a pearing knife.