Extreme Budget, Day Twenty-Three - Soupreme Monday Roasted Tomato Soup

I'm not sure I ever made a homemade tomato soup. I'm sorry but I like the canned condensed tomato soup. I make it the way my mom always did, with bits of cheddar cheese melted in and milk instead of water and the best part, those thin egg noodles.
What's not to like about all that good stuff? The Nudge likes it better then next day after the noodles soak in all the goodness.

I must have over 3 cases of canned whole tomatoes. I usually make a large batch of Sunday sauce and process a dozen pints for use all winter long. This year, for whatever reason, I did not. I think it's time to start seriously opening up those cans.

This soup was a good way to start. Since I like creamed soups and The Nudge prefers consommé but will devour a bisque, that was the avenue I wanted to travel down. I also wanted it to be spicy but not hot spicy, flavor spiced.

Best place I know where spice is king, the Gulf Coast. I found this recipe on a site that is all about Jackson, Mississippi and they do Creole good. I adapted the technique to use canned romas instead of fresh. I remember a few years back that a restaurant made "oven dried canned tomatoes" for appetizers.
The writer praised them as having immense flavor and a great way to eat oven roasted tomatoes all year round. A great appetizer by spreading goat cheese on crostini and topping with a tomato.
 I will open a few cans of whole tomatoes, slice and seed, salt & pepper and bake them in the oven for 4-5 hours. Hey I have the time and I will have the oven on all day. You can put a batch into a 225° oven overnight. Store them in a container with olive oil and refrigerate them. There must be thousands of quick and easy dinners that use these tomatoes and at less then a dollar a can, I made two batches.
While I am roasting the tomatoes I also roasted garlic.
If there is any tomato soup left over, save it for an easy Pasta a la Vodka later in the week.

Roasted Tomato Bisque
Serves 4
* 24 oven roasted half plum tomatoes (recipe follows)
* 1/2 white onion, caramelized
* Reserved juice from canned tomatoes, strained
* 1 head roasted garlic
* 2 teaspoons Emerils Creole Seasonings

* 1 cup chicken stock
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* salt & pepper
* pinch of sugar

1. Simmer the reserved tomato juice to reduce by half.
2. In a small frying pan, cook the onions on low heat with a pat of butter for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Add a tablespoon of white wine to deglaze the pan and pour everything into the reduced tomato liquid.
3. Add garlic, creole seasonings, chicken stock and salt & pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add roasted tomatoes, cream and sugar. Simmer another 30 minutes. Puree until smooth. Taste to adjust seasonings and if slightly bitter, add a pinch of sugar. Stir and taste again, Repeat as needed.

Roasted Tomatoes
makes 2 batches
* 2 cans whole Roma tomatoes, the best you can afford
* 2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
* salt & pepper
* Dusting of sugar
* Sprinkle of olive oil
* Dried thyme & oregano

1. Drain tomatoes over a large bowl. Holding one in your hand, slice in half and run your fingers between the sections to remove the seeds and any tough stems.
2. Place each half skin side down on a quarter sheet pan and continue until the pan is covered, or there are no more tomatoes. I like to place my tomatoes touching each other but not crowded. They will shrink slightly so the heat can surround them.
3. Salt, pepper, sugar and olive oil every tomato as evenly as you can.
4. Place one slice of garlic in each half and sprinkle with oregano and thyme.
5. Roast for 1 hour at 300°, reduce heat to 250° and roast for two hours more. As soon as the tomatoes are dried and the moisture is all gone, remove from the oven and cool.

Cost for this meal: $ 2.00
Cheese - $ 1.00
Cream - $ .75
Garlic - $ .25

Running total for 23 days: $73.03