frugal friday..

two styles of tomato soup from the one base

soup base

ingredients

250 gms pumpkin skinned, deseeded and cut into medium sized cubes

12 roma tomatoes cut in half

1 fresh red chilli cut in half and deseeded

4-6 garlic cloves left in their skins

2 tsp brown sugar (optional)

sea salt

freshly cracked black pepper 

olive oil

approximately 1.5 L fresh tomato juice* 

method

~place vegetables in a roasting tin and sprinkle tomatoes with sugar (if using)

~drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper

~bake at 190 deg c until the vegetables are well cooked

~sieve vegetables in a mouli to remove seeds and fibrous matter

~place puree in a saucepan and heat adding enough fresh tomato juice to achieve a desirable consistency-avoid overcooking at this stage in order to retain a fresh tomato flavour from the tomato juice

note:

* i bottled 8 more bottles of tomato puree yesterday and the juice was a by product of this process

tomato soup (1)

ingredients

approximately 1 L of hot tomato soup base

1/2 cup cooked rice per person..i used arborio

several sprigs of greek basil

parmesan cheese grated fine

chilli flakes

salt 

freshly cracked pepper

extra fresh tomato juice 

method

~place rice in the bottom of a soup bowl

~tear several basil leaves into the bowl

~pour over hot soup with extra tomato juice added if the soup is too thick

~sprinkle with chilli flakes and salt and pepper

~add parmesan and a small sprig of basil

serve with fresh bread or toast

tomato soup (1)

tomato soup (2)

ingredients

approximately 1 L tomato soup base

3 tbs trachana

several sprigs of greek basil

crumbled feta cheese

salt 

freshly cracked pepper

olive oil

method

~bring tomato soup base to the boil, add trachana, and cook for 5-10 minutes until the trachana is soft adding extra tomato juice if the soup is too thick

~tear several basil leaves into the bowl

~pour hot soup over the basil leaves

~add crumbled feta and salt and pepper

~drizzle with a little olive oil

serve with fresh bread or toast

tomato soup (2)

happy first autumn (spring for those in northern hemisphere) weekend..x

raw zucchini, tomato and trachana soup

this original 'tea with hazel' summery soup recipe is the third in a series of seven zucchini recipes i'm aiming to make in the next few weeks that i referred to a few posts ago..

raw* zucchini, tomato and trachana** soup 

ingredients

1 large onion cut into medium dice
4 garlic cloves cut fine
4 small homegrown celery stalks strings removed and cut small
1 red chill cut fine
1 green chilli cut fine
1 2cm slice of bacon cut into medium dice
3 L fresh tomato juice***
1/4 cup finely cut celery leaves
1 cup (for each person) of grated zucchini (seeds removed)
4 small potatoes cut into medium dice
extra 300 mls tomato juice
1/2 cup trachana
a few chives cut fine
grated aged (preferably 36 month old ) cheddar cheese formed into walnut sized balls (one for each person)
olive oil
salt to taste
pepper to taste

method (soup base)

pour a few tablespoons of olive oil into the base of a large saucepan and heat..add onion and celery and saute for a few minutes..add chilli and bacon and continue to saute until the onion is translucent and starting to brown on the edges..add garlic and potato and stir for a minute and then add the tomato juice..bring to boil..lower to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender..add celery leaves..stir and turn off the heat..

method (trachana) 

when the soup is nearly cooked bring the extra tomato juice to the boil in another saucepan..add trachana and cook stirring for 5 minutes..turn off heat and cover until the soup is ready..

to serve

in a large shallow soup bowl place a large serving spoon of the trachanas and a cup of grated zucchini..pour over soup making sure each bowl gets some potato and bacon..top with a ball of cheese..sprinkle with chives, drizzle with olive oil and lastly a grating of black pepper..

notes:
* i like using grated raw zucchini because it gives the soup a summery freshness..the zucchini is cooked enough with the heat of soup as it's poured into the bowl..and if i make a big pot of the base soup the zucchini doesn't end up being overcooked when the soup is reheated..

** trachanas is available commercially but some greek women still make it by hand..i made it once under the instruction of my landlady..it consisted of making a dough with flour, yoghurt and eggs which was rolled out thinly, covered, and left to dry inside on a sheet covered table..as it dried it was progressively crumbled and then once completely dry stored in calico bags..it's often served for breakfast where it is boiled in water and served with crumbled feta and a drizzle of olive oil..

i don't add it directly to the soup because it's easier to apportion when cooked separately and to avoid the problem as with the zucchini of overcooking it when reheating

***i bottled some more tomato puree this week and, because the tomatoes were very juicy and i wanted a thick puree, i drained the tomatoes in a colander after skinning and deseeding..this left me with several litres of a lovely fresh tomato juice some of which i used in this recipe to form the base of the soup..

text highlighted in green represents homegrown ingredients

i originally wanted to use fontina cheese in this recipe for it's melting softness but i think the 'bite' of the cheddar offered a more interesting contrast to the other flavours..

happy weekend everyone..x