"tomato soup" news and stories

You can't talk about cold soups without talking tomatoes. Garden-fresh gazpacho is the go-to soup for summer. If you roast the tomatoes, as in this Kitchen Daily recipe, you'll add depth of flavor. On the sweeter side, though, is a chilled soup of yellow tomatoes blended with sweet yellow peppers and banana peppers, along with garlic and herbs.

Blogger Chiot's Run not only makes tomato soup, she cans it, along with pickles and sauerkraut. (See her recipes here). On a cold winter's day, to taste the tomatoes of summer (not the bland hothouse stuff that's around then), is a gift. So if you're ready to boil the Ball jars, and set up a canning operation, go for it (and check out Eugenia Bone's how-to book Well-Preserved: Recipes and Techniques for Putting Up Small Batches of Seasonal Foods). And for pickling, you can't beat Chris Schlesinger, John Willoughby, and Dan George's Quick Pickles: Easy Recipes for Big Flavor.

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Tomato soup -- whether homemade or from a can -- is one of those classic dishes most of us have fond memories of. Whether staying home from school sick or after a long day playing in the snow, many would argue a spoonful of thick tomato soup is just about as soothing as it gets.

This recipe from "In Jennie's Kitchen" uses slow-roasted tomatoes -- resulting in an intensely tomato-flavored soup even in the off-season. A spot of cream gives a hint of orange to this utterly satisfying soup for a frosty February day.

Here, the cook riffs on the traditional grilled-cheese pairing with bite-sized, homemade Parmesan croutons. She scattered them on top, but we're betting you won't be able to resist the urge to pop them in your mouth before the soup's ready.

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Tomato on the vine. Photo: Mrs. Gemstone, Flickr

• Tomato fans, beware: A new fungus is ravaging Northeast plants and could cause a sharp price increase.
  
• "Bronx Flavor," a new public-access show, showcases local eateries with extra flair such as Bollywood dance numbers and drag races.
• Summer-friendly South American Sauvignon Blancs.
• Wondrously tart black currants loaded with Vitamin C are now hitting farmers' markets.
  
• Patacón Maracucho: a Venezuelan sandwich in which plantains are used in lieu of bread.
• Queens' Tortillería Nixtamal is the place to get traditional Mexican masa.
• Go Greek with a recipe for Cashew Pilaf, mix chicken with peaches or whip up some Moroccan Tomato Soup.

When I was a kid, I had a very strict and immobile belief on the idea of grilled cheese -- it was always cheddar melted between slices of white bread with a can of Campbell's tomato soup. It had to be Campbell's, the can was not to be diluted with water (blasphemy!), and it would only be consumed with the sandwich. No tomato soup without the sandwich, and no grilled cheese without the soup.

These days, I'm a smidge more open-minded. I kill for grilled cheese with tomato, and sometime I even sass up my old mainstay with something like the tuscan bean soup above. But some of the old sentiment lingers. I can't imagine the thought of tomato soup without the sandwich, unless we're talking tuscan bean, minestrone, or something similar. Likewise, unless I add other ingredients to the cheese and bread, it seems lonely without the soup.

But what about you? Do you have strict grilled cheese beliefs or habits? Share below!

Quick tip: To cut cooking time for grilled cheese without a panini press, heat a large and small cast iron skillet. Put the sandwich in the larger pan, and then pick up the smaller skillet and press it down on top of the sandwich.

Is there something wrong with me that I like the weather we're having here today? It's rainy and sleety (if that's a word), raw, and cold, and I just love it. I'll take this weather over a sunny, 85 degree July day any day of the week.

But we do need some things to help us get through these days, and soup is one of those things. Soup is good food and all that (I would put hot chocolate, a blanket, and a good book on that list too). This recipe is from the Cooking For 2 blog, and it's for Roasted Red Tomato Soup. It's pretty easy to make and seems both soothing and hearty.

It's red, so maybe this would be a good Valentine's Day meal for you and yours.