Pure Hunger

The leaves are turning to yellow, red and orange. They’re falling like twirling acrobats from the limbs to the streets, littering the world with beauty. The brilliant blue sky and bright sun warm the crisp mornings that turn your breath to fog. It’s officially fall and I have been storing up a whole lot of soups in my “can’t wait to make” list and will be sharing them with you as the seasons continue to change into winter. The only downside of fall is the produce from the garden is going to get sparse and thus my need to be creative and inventive will explode. Due to a very late harvest, however, I am stock full of tomatoes, onions, green peppers and garlic.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp sea salt
2 cups vegetable/chicken stock
1/2 cup green pepper, diced
14.5 oz can chopped tomatoes or 2 cups chopped fresh
1 Tbsp honey
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chopped basil
Freshly ground pepper

I was also recently gifted a le cruset pot and eager to use my new kitchen gear. The recipe is adapted from “Feeding the Whole Family” by Cynthia Lair. A book I have featured on this site several times already and can’t seem to find a recipe I don’t like. I used fresh tomatoes, added 1/2 cup of diced green peppers and added basil before blending and then as a garnish. I served it with my eggplant panini and am not sure I can ever eat canned tomato soup again.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt oil and butter in oven while it preheats. Add onion, garlic and salt and put in oven for 10 min or until onions are translucent. Add tomatoes, green pepper, stock, honey and simmer in oven for 15-20 min or until only tomato skins are left visible.

Let soup cool slightly. If you enjoy a chunkier soup, add sour cream, mix and serve with basil garnish. If you like a creamier soup then add sour cream and blend with immersion blender or blend in stand up blender. I also added 1/4 cup basil during the blending process. Spoon into bowls and top with chopped basil and pepper and serve.

For babies 6 months and older: Serve soup with steamed broccoli on the side. Puree part of steamed broccoli with water for baby.