just a smidgen

“Google It”: Oven Roasted Heirloom Tomato and Red Pepper Soup with Grown-Up Grilled Cheese

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You’ve gotta love Google.

Have you ever wanted to learn how to take better food photos…

Market Radishes

Or wondered who’s teaching the next bike class at your gym?

Perhaps you needed driving directions to a nearby town,
Or lost the phone number for a favorite restaurant?

Jelly modern doughnuts – 1414 8 Street SW

You just have to “google it”, right?

You find the restaurant’s phone number and… “bonus” all kinds of information you never knew you wanted… like the address, number of years in business, a photo of the interior and the menu, and best of all, current reviews of the food and service there.

What did we do before Google?

I love to read the “Search Engine Terms” people type in before they somehow find their way to my blog. Here are a few of my favorites:

“old fashioned smacking”
“smidgen and a half”
“russian ballet dancers nude”
“cracking eggs into bowl french toast”
“fruit loops”
“beautiful salat on a large plate for dinner party”
“person pulling their hair”
“stared sky”
“rain poetic”
” устрицы” (hmmm)

and…“vodka and oysters food poisoning”

Even with mispelled misspelled words and a hankering to learn about spanking…

By some sort of miracle of fate and binary digits… they ended up here!

My Sweet Peas

And I’m so glad they did.

I’m so glad you did too♥

And I promise not to poison you.

Heirloom Tomatoes

Here is my newest recipe for a simply heavenly Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Soup. I, too, Googled and Stumbled Upon a roasted tomato soup recipe that tasted fresh but a touch bland. It had “good bones” as the saying goes. So… “just a smidgen and a half” here, a few “hair pulling” moments there later… and voilà! I have my new favorite fall soup.

And because you Googled high and low and somehow found me… I have a bonus “old fashioned” recipe that’s just perfect for “smacking” down right next to that soup. I’ve been craving a grown-up Grilled Cheese Sandwich, so put away that processed cheese and get ready to “Save As”!

Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes, Shallots and Red Peppers

 

Oven Roasted Heirloom Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

Oven Roasted Heirloom Tomato and Red Pepper Soup
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 lbs fresh heirloom tomatoes (regular if you don’t have heirloom)
  • 1 large red pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 4 shallots peeled and quartered
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • herbs to season: thyme, oregano, basil, herb de sel with herbs d’provence
  • 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1/2 tsp celery seed
  • 1/2 tsp dill weed
  • salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. Cut tomatoes into quarters (cherry tomatoes leave whole).
  3. Spread tomatoes, chopped red pepper and shallots in an oven roaster. Drizzle with olive oil and season with herbs, salt and pepper. Gently toss and put in the oven.
  4. Roast in oven for 30 -40 minutes or until tomatoes and peppers are browned and shallots have slightly caramelized. My tomatoes had lots of juice, so you may need to wait a while and the liquid will evaporate allowing the veggies to roast and lightly brown.
  5. Remove from the oven and allow mixture to cool slightly. Spoon tomato, pepper and shallot mixture into a food processor and blend until smooth, adding 2 cups of stock as you go. If soup is too chunky for your liking, pour through a sieve to remove bits. (I didn’t do this.) Add cream and remaining seasonings. Stir in grated parmesan cheese and allow to melt. Simmer to reheat. Adjust seasonings to taste.
  6. Garnish each bowl with freshly ground pepper, a few small stems of fresh thyme, and a dollop (tsp) of Devon Cream.
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*recipe gently modified from original found over at Honey and Jam.

 

Grown-Up Grilled Cheese

Grown-Up Grilled Cheese
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 slices of your favorite bread
  • (I used Cob’s Bakery Raisin Walnut Bread)
  • Butter
  • Aged Farmer’s Cheese
  • Fall Harvest Apple Cranberry Chutney (recipe follows)
Instructions
  1. Meanwhile, heat skillet on stove over medium heat. Lightly butter one side of slice of bread, lay in pan, top with thinly sliced Aged Farmhouse cheese, a good dollop of chutney and the second slice of bread. Spread more butter on top. Cook until brown, flip sandwich and cook until cheese is melted and bubbly.
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 Fall Harvest Apple Cranberry Chutney

Fall Harvest Apple Cranberry Chutney
 
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Ingredients
  • 2-3 apples, diced
  • 3/4 cups dried cranberries (craisins)
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 1/2 cup cider vinegar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • apple juice, as needed (1 L on hand is good)
Instructions
  1. Put all ingredients except the apple juice into a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a boil then reduce heat until mixture is at a slow simmer. Allow the ingredients to cook and reduce so that the apples are soft but not completely reduced to applesauce. It takes quite a while for this to occur, about 45 minutes to an hour.
  2. This is a modified Nigella Lawson recipe. I found the mixture cooked dry quite frequently, so just kept splashing apple juice liberally to keep it going until it was cooked to the consistency of a chutney. In the end my apples wouldn’t bake down so I used a potato masher to make the mixture more “chutney-like”. Store in refrigerator.
  3. Makes about two cups.
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Love, Smidge 5

 

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