Day 5 was a good day. Why? Well, I was off work for the day for one thing. That right there is enough. I had numerous doctor appointments but it still allowed me to be home about an hour earlier than usual so I took advantage of that time.
Home grown tomatoes are something I have always loved and even craved. Nothing like a home grown mater right out of the garden. I remember as a child anxiously awaiting summer at our Colonial Beach cottage so we'd get home grown tomatoes. Mr. Hicks had a garden right behind our house and the delicious yummies would graciously appear on our patio table every morning. Even after Mr. Hicks passed, Skip would share tomatoes from his garden with us as well. Even without our gracious neighbors, Mom, Grandmother and I would go downtown and purchase them from the local produce stand or from Mr. Lee who drove around with this station wagon stacked with fresh produce. Even as I got older and lived on my own in Woodbridge, I'd frequent the local farmer's market to grab home grown tomatoes and ironically they were usually from someone in Westmoreland County. To this day, I still hunt them down in the summer and I just cannot wait for them to be ready this season!!
If it's a really ripe one, and you can tell by the smell, I can wash it, and bite right into it, just like an apple. Mom and I would always cut up tomatoes and put salt on them and just eat them as a snack or as a side. Wedge one and put lump blue crab on top or homemade chicken salad. Slice them for toppings on a pizza or in a salad. Nothing better than a home grown mater on a burger. Sets that burger on fire, Dad would say. Fresh bruschetta or caprese salad with fresh basil. Ah.... so many delicious ways to enjoy tomatoes.
One thing I have never done though is roast tomatoes. So I found a recipe for a roasted tomato soup the other day and since I needed a fair amount of time to prepare it, no better day than Day 5 to do so. Being that its April, tomatoes aren't in season yet which would make this dish soooooo much better. Instead, I purchased roma tomatoes, cut them in half, black pepper and sea salted them with a spritz of vegetable broth (b/c/ oil is a no go these 30 days), put them on a foiled baking sheet and into the oven for 1 hour and 20 minutes they went! On a separate sheet, went a sliced yellow onion.
The other thing I've always wanted to do but never have is roast garlic cloves. This soup recipe had another recipe attached for roasting garlic and it seemed super easy. I had three garlic cloves, chopped off the tips, put some vegetable broth over the cut edges, wrapped them in foil and shoved each one in a muffin tin. After 45 minutes, my house not only smelled of wondrous garlic but I was able to easily squeeze the softened garlic out and into a pot with the carmelized onions, which were done well before anything else in the oven. Reminding me of licking the mixer parts and spoon after Mom baked a cake as a kid, I must say that I quite enjoyed licking my own fingers after squeezing the garlic out of these cloves!
Once the tomatoes were roasted, they got added to the pot along with a can of light organic coconut milk, some vegetable broth and garam masala. After bringing this loveliness to a boil, it simmered on medium for about 15 minutes before I added it all to the blender. You could make this smooth but I like a chunky tomato soup so I just pulsed it a few times.
Garam Masala is a combination of spices (cumin, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cardmom, coriander) mostly used in Indian cuisine and I LOVE Indian cuisine. Butter Chicken is one dish that is a staple on Indian menus and I actually was able to perfect it a few years ago. This soup reminded me very much of butter chicken but without the chicken.
We could remedy that real easy in fact... sigh... but I won't.
I know. I know.
Anyway, this soup isn't as thick as I'd like but since I can't have heavy cream, I can't make it thicker. Regardless, it's delicious. It made quite a bit so I froze half of it. I can see this being very versatile and even putting it over gnocchi or pasta or cauliflower rice. I have some future ideas forthis soup used as a sauce. This soup could also easily be given an Italian spin by putting in fresh basil and oregano or made more hearty with spinach and mushrooms.
Heating/broiling some whole grain bread a little in the oven to make it crusty and dipping it in the soup is a must. Bread is always a great way to clean up the bowl when you're done too. Don't rinse all that goodness down the drain!
Day 5 was a good day.
No work
Brought back wonderful family and food memories
My home smelled of tomatoes, garlic and onions.
Yep, Day 5 was a good day.
I could use more days like Day 5.
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