“Last Night’s Dinner..” Review
I know, this may not be the best form of presentation, and I am pretty sure culinarian’s amateur and professional are saying, WHY.... chef why the red bowl with a red soup. Well I'll tell you, my wife is a big fan of the colors red and black to name a few. So needless to say our dish-ware would be either red or black, guess which one we have....
No that I have your attention let’s talk tomatoes for a second. Let’s probe deeper into the age old myth, Is it a fruit or a vegetable? It all depends on what you think. By definition, a Vegetable - is a plant or part of a plant used as food, typically as accompaniment to meat or fish, such as a cabbage, potato, carrot, or bean. However, by definition, a Fruit - is a the sweet and fleshy product of a tree or other plant that contains seed and can be eaten as food. So, is it a vegetable or is it a fruit? They are actually both correct in their own way, let’s look at this excerpt from a culinary college text....
“From a botanical, scientific context, tomatoes are fruit because they have seeds. However, from a culinary standpoint, they are considered vegetables. The word vegetable is not a botanical term, it is more of a culinary term, its definition has no scientific valued is somewhat arbitrary and subjective.”
- Nenes, Michael. The Foundations of Professional Cooking: A Global Approach
The grilled cheese had a great buttery flavor to it. The overall color of the sandwich was very pretty, and the texture of the overall sandwich was not bunt but in fact had the perfect crispness (in my opinion).
The soup on the other hand, the color was not as red as I would have liked it to be. But that could be because of the type of pan I roasted the tomatoes in. It wasn’s as flat as I needed it to be considering it was a deep roasting pan. The roasted garlic flavor was very subtle, so I think I may just have to add a little more garlic to the recipe. The soup in general was a little more chunky than I would have like it to be, but all in all the flavors were soft and complementing.
What to do differently...
Use the correct pan to roast the tomatoes.
Do not roast 3 lbs of tomatoes on one pan.
Add more garlic to the recipe.
Now that you have gained some insight to the, Tomato: Is it a fruit, or is it a vegetable? I suggest that everyone at least try to make it at home, when you do you can definitely taste and see the difference between homemade and the stuff in a can.
Let me know what you think. See you at dinner next time, until then......
- Keep feeding each other
Roasted Tomato and Garlic Basil soup
8 pcs. Garlic, peeled (optional)
1/2 c Basil leaves, packed, (optional) chiffonade
1 ea Yellow onion, large (optional, omit for allergies)
Pre- heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Cut tomatoes in half, you can optionally remove the seeds if you like, however later in the process the liquid will be strained.
Lightly toss tomatoes and garlic in olive oil, lightly season with salt and pepper. Arrange the tomatoes and garlic on a half sheet pan or cookie sheet with enough space between tomatoes for proper roasting. You may have to do this in batches or on two separate sheets (if you have the means). Roast for about 45 min.
Once the tomatoes and garlic are done, remove from oven and let sit for about 5 - 10 min, to cool off before pureeing in the blender.
While tomatoes are roasting, in a medium pot, go ahead and cook off your onions. The onions should have a nice caramelization to them, cartelized not burnt. This usually takes about 10 - 20 min.
Once tomatoes and garlic are cooled, puree in a blender for about 2 - 3 min. The consistency to look for is completely up to you. I like my tomato soup chunky and the wife likes more of a liquid consistency.
Once consistency has been achieved, add the cooked onions, (optional, as some of you may be allergic), and basil leaves, blend for about 1 - 2 min, again until consistency is to your liking.
Here you have two choices, for a more chunky texture do not strain, but if you don't like all the added chunkiness at this point go ahead and pass the contents through a strainer.
Place everything back into the pot, and heat over medium. Once the mixture begins to boil, add in a little bit of cream or milk if you choose, mixing constantly. Add cream until you get the texture you are looking for.
Nappe - the ability to coat the back of a spoon. see picture below.
Once you have achieved the consistency you like, plate and garnish with a piece of basil leaf, and serve with grilled cheese.
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