Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Creamy Tomato-Balsamic Soup


Yet another Cooking Light recipe! This is the first time I made this recipe. I changed it up by nixing the half-and-half and used whole milk instead. I garnished with my favorite Bulgarian plain yogurt (whole milk this time). It might be a little on the tart side for some, but I loved it. Adding half-and-half would have tamed some of the tang, I'm sure. I'm only going to use 2 Tbs of balsamic next time. It was really good though, and really easy.

Creamy Tomato-Balsamic Soup:

1 cup organic beef broth, divided
1 tablespoon brown sugar (or agave nectar)
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (2?)
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
5 garlic cloves, whole
2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes, drained (I used one can of Muir Glen organic fire-roasted tomatoes, and one can of Italian roma tomatoes that had very low sodium content )
Cooking spray
~1/2-3/4 cup whole milk (I'm going to try Silk unsweetened soy milk here, next time)
Cracked black pepper (optional)

Preheat oven to 500°.

Combine 1/2 cup of broth, sugar (agave), vinegar, and soy sauce in a small bowl. Place onion, garlic, and tomatoes in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Pour broth mixture over tomato mixture. Bake at 500° for 50 minutes or until vegetables are lightly browned.

Place tomato mixture in a blender. Add remaining 1/2 cup broth and milk, and process until smooth. Garnish with cracked black pepper, if desired. I served the soup with some cheesy Gruyere toasts with prosciutto. I just popped some slices of ciabatta topped with prosciutto and grated Gruyere under the broiler til toasty and melty.


Balsamic Vinaigrette:

I thought a hearty salad made with a Butler family classic balsamic vinaigrette would be great with this soup. I don't know who came up with this first, but it's a good one.
Use about 3-1 oil to vinegar ratio here...I'm more of a 2-1'er though, since I like a perky dressing.

balsamic vinegar
kosher salt
lots of fresh ground black pepper
a clove of minced garlic
a dollop of Grey Poupon, or other similar 'tard
a squeeze of honey (or agave nectar). Go easy on the sweet, since the balsamic is sweet too.
a couple splashes of Worcestershire sauce
original calls for dried oregano, but I leave it out unless I have fresh oregano
a wee bit of dried thyme, or fresh if you've got it
Good extra-virgin olive oil

Mix all ingredients together except oil. Slowly stream in olive oil while whisking to emulsify. You'll end up with a nice thick dressing.

3 comments:

Beth said...

Erin, are these really your pictures or are you lifting them from Cooking Light? So, is the yogurt spider-web design included for the rating of easy for this recipe?

Erndog said...

Beth, you make me smile...but, you too can make creepy spider web designs in your soup! All it takes is a squeezy bottle and a toothpick. :-)

marenka Cerny said...

holy spiderweb batgirl. i had no idea i was famished until looking at those photos just now. gonna have to hop a plane immediately for some original erndog haute-cuisine. wowsers.