A Winter Cheat: Roasted Tomato Soup

Just about this time of year, I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. The symptoms are all there: lack of energy and the ability to concentrate; slow, lethargic movement; social withdrawal; irritability. Except the cause is not what you might think. I'm perfectly fine with grey skies, and every day after the winter solstice gets reassuringly longer.

No, it's not the weather, tempting as that may be to blame. The cause of my winter doldrums is quite simple. No tomatoes. After the glory of late fall's harvest, I'm left leaden by the hard and unyielding, artificially red orbs in the produce section. Mexico's harvest doesn't tempt me, and even the baby tomatoes that grow up in greenhouses seem somehow wrong and out of place next to the kale and cabbage.

While it's noble to wait until the seasons spin around again, I still imagine there must be some easy way to extract a kernel of flavour from what's at hand. And just as the secret to a summer tomato is the heat of the sun, so too is heat the trick to bringing life to the seemingly lifeless winter tomato. This delicious soup almost manages to make you think that the sun shining outside is smiling down on leafy tomato plants and not a blanket of snow.

Roasted Tomato Soup
from Gourmet Today
serves four to six

4 lb tomatoes, halved lengthwise
6 garlic cloves, left unpeeled
3 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
1 medium onion, finely chopped
½ tsp dried oregano, crumbled
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
½ cup heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 

2. Place tomatoes and garlic in one layer on a rimmed cookie sheet, tomatoes cut side up. Drizzle olive oil over the tomatoes and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Roast for one hour, and allow to cool.  Once garlic is cool enough to handle, peel and set aside.

3. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over moderate heat.  Add onion, oregano, and sugar and sauté, stirring frequently, until onion is softened, about five minutes. Add tomatoes, garlic, and stock and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

4. Let soup cool slightly and then purée in batches.  Put the soup through a sieve, discarding solids, and place in a medium saucepan. Stir in cream and salt and pepper to taste and simmer two minutes.  Sprinkle with some grated Parmigiano Reggiano, if desired, and garnish with a fresh sprig of basil.

The addition of cream gives this soup an almost carroty colour

If the thought of using winter tomatoes still doesn't appeal, wisely do what the Italians do and use canned tomatoes, sourced at their height of juicy goodness.

Vive la France: Soupe à l’Onion Gratinée

Winter is comfort food time, and does anyone do comfort food better than the French? Hearty cassoulets, coq au vin, lamb navarin, fricassée, tarte tatin – classic bistro fare that warms the stomach and soothes the soul.

About this time of year, Richard goes to Paris on business and when he returns, he is full of stories of meals eaten and meals savoured; new favourites found and old haunts revisited. It makes me hungry for a taste of France, and nothing is more satisfying than a bubbling bowl of French onion soup, served straight from the oven.

French Onion Soup
serves 6

Here’s my take on the French classic. I like to use a mix of beef and veal stock for extra richness, and to grill the bread for an added smoky flavour.

2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp plus ¼ c olive oil
4 large cooking onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf (preferably fresh)
2 sprigs fresh thyme
½ c Madeira
6 c beef stock (or a combination of beef and veal stock)
1 tsp fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
12 slices French bread
¾ lb grated Gruyere cheese, grated
6 ovenproof French onion soup bowls

1. In a large stockpot, melt the butter in the olive oil over medium high heat. When the foam subsides, add the onion, lower heat to medium and sauté for fifteen minutes, stirring to keep the onions from sticking.

2. Add the garlic, bay leaf and thyme. Continuing sautéing and stirring until the onions are a deep golden colour. Turn heat to high, add the Madeira and cook for an additional two minutes, stirring frequently, until most of the wine has boiled off.

3. Add the beef stock, salt and pepper, bring the soup to a boil, and lower to a simmer. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes more.

4. While the soup is simmering, prepare the bread and preheat the oven to the broil setting. Brush the bread slices with olive oil and broil (or grill), turning to brown evenly. Set aside.

I love the convenience of our indoor grill for quick and easy grilling

5. When the soup has finished simmering, check and adjust the salt and pepper to taste. Place two slices of bread in each bowl, and ladle in enough soup to barely cover the bread. Sprinkle each bowl with a generous amount of Gruyere. Set the oven rack to the middle position. Place the bowls on a baking sheet, put in the oven, and broil until the cheese has melted and is bubbly and slightly brown, about 3-5 minutes.

Be generous with the cheese but not overly so; the ingredients should all play in balance with one another

6. Serve it forth piping hot for a delicious and satisfying winter dish.

Healthy Eats: Rest-of-the-turkey Soup

I hope you saved the rest of the turkey. Maybe the bones are in your freezer, with the delicious meat carefully wrapped and stored separately. You're tired of turkey sandwiches, a turkey casserole feels like too much work, and frankly, turkey hash just doesn't sound appealing.

Why not make a warming and deeply satisfying soup? The perfect antidote to rich and over-indulgent holiday eating, this soup is a meal in a bowl, and also freezes well.  Richard is the soup maker in the family, and he's perfected this recipe, an old favourite of mine from Weight Watchers. He also loves eating turkey year-round, so don't wait until the holidays to make this.  Take advantage of the fresh turkey parts that are always available.

Richard's Turkey-Vegetable Soup
serves 6-8

2 c cooked turkey meat, white and dark meat combined OR one fresh turkey thigh or breast, diced*
¼ c olive oil
2¼ c thinly sliced shitake mushrooms
2 c sliced carrots
4 garlic cloves, minced
2¼ c baby spinach leaves, washed
1 c sliced celery
8 c low-sodium chicken stock (or homemade turkey stock from those bones)
¼ c parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

*If using fresh turkey meat, add the turkey in step one, along with the mushrooms, carrots and garlic, and then proceed with recipe.

1.  In a large stockpot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add mushrooms, carrots and garlic, and saute, stirring constantly, until just tender, about five minutes. 

Shitake mushrooms add a delicious flavour to this soup

2.  Add celery and spinach and cook for another two or three minutes, until spinach is just wilted.  If using cooked turkey, add at this point, stir to combine, and then add chicken stock.  Bring to a boil, turn off heat, stir in parsley, and serve.*

*If using fresh turkey, simmer the soup for an additional five to 10 minutes, or until turkey is cooked through.

Discovering Japan: Creamy Edamame Soup with Shichimi-Togarashi

Tokyo is a weird and wonderful place. On the surface, it shouldn't work as well as it does.  Millions of people crowded into a very tiny space.  Incomprehensive street addresses (every taxi driver struggles to find your destination, GPS working overtime, map scrutinized at every light).  A subway system that spiders all over the city in a confusing web of intersecting lines.  No English signs in sight, and barely more "English spoke here" places.  What pulls it all together is the Japanese themselves.  Unfailingly courteous and interested, the Japanese make strangers feel welcome and cared for.  Even if you're not 'xactly sure what you're eating. 

Barbecued eel for lunch, in a restaurant that served nothing but

There are so many things to love about Tokyo, but what I love most is the reverence with which food is held. The Japanese worship at the altar of seasonality, each piece of fruit, each specialty food item sacred. Food is not merely sustenance; it’s something to be savoured, appreciated, each meal a leisurely exploration of every taste.

Wasabi grating in action at Seamon

Nowhere is this reverence more apparent than in the hundreds of tiny food shops that dot the city. Many have been in business for decades, honing their expertise in either crafting or choosing the very best. Many sell just one thing – a certain type of pickled plum, say, or Japanese omelettes (come early – the shop closes when the omelettes are gone).  On a recent trip to Tokyo, and with Food Sake Tokyo* as our bible, we set out on the trail to find culinary treats to take home. Musk melons at $250.00 were out of the question (and, yes, that’s not an incorrect decimal point!), as was fresh wasabi, seen grated a la minute at sushi counters throughout the city.

About $250USD for two - and perfect in every way

Fresh wasabi - slightly more reasonable at about $16USD

Spices seemed like a good bet, and how could we not visit Yagenbori, in business since 1625, and the proud originators and purveyors of Shichimi-Togarashi? This wonderfully complex seven spice blend gives dishes deeply subtle nuances of flavour.  It's a medium-spicy blend of seven ingredients: black sesame seeds; the dried peel of the unshu mikan (Satsuma orange); Japanese sansho pepper; dried capsicum; roasted dry capsicum; hemp seeds and poppy seeds.

The delicious mixture for Shichimi-Togarashi

While your spices are being packaged you can choose a traditional wooden shaker

I knew exactly what I wanted to try it on when I got home – my attempt to recreate a cold and creamy edamame soup I had in Tokyo that was so so good. The soup turned out to be incredibly easy, and with fresh edamame still available at the farmers’ market (and frozen a grocery store away), edamame soup is as easy as one-two-three.

Creamy Edamame Soup
serves 4-6

Edamame beans, fresh or frozen, enough to yield two cups shelled
1 shallot, sliced
2 c chicken soup stock
½ tbsp vegetable oil
1½ c fresh buttermilk or skim milk
1 tbsp fresh butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Shichimi-togarashi for garnish (optional - you can order it here)

1. Boil edamame beans. Shell edamame and also remove the fine skin on the beans. While this may seems like an additional step, it will yield an ultra smooth soup.

2. Heat oil in a saucepan and sauté shallots. Add chicken soup stock and edamame, bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 minutes on low heat.

3. Puree the edamame beans, and put back into the saucepan. Add the buttermilk and butter. Simmer for 5 minutes on low heat. Add butter, salt, and pepper to season.

Fresh edamame beans - beautiful variations of colour

The buttermilk yield from homemade butter

Final step to soup...

This rich, delicious and nutritious soup is fabulous served either warm or cold. Serve it in small cups as a starter, or in shot glasses for a wonderfully different appetiser.

A taste of Japan

*If you visit Tokyo, you need a personal guide to help you navigate. The newly published Food Sake Tokyo is all you will need. A carefully edited and lovingly assembled collection of all things food, chef and former depachica sommelier Yukari Sakamoto turns even the shortest trip to Tokyo into a culinary adventure. Check out her blog for up to the minute tips and tastes.