Creamy Tomato Balsamic Soup~ 10. 24.11

Continuing my trend this week of copying recipes from my other blog and posting them here. Before they're forgotten! Some of these haven't been made in ages.

I may have mentioned my love and affection for all things tomato- and this soup fits the bill. I may need to make it this week! heartburn schmartburn! (ah the joys of pregnancy)

I do use a foley food mill to make my soup. Ever see one of those before? One of my beloved kitchen tools. You can sometimes nab one at a garage sale or thrift store. Or raid your grandmother's cabinets and ask her for hers ;) Mine came from my grandfather and then I upgraded to a less rusty version when I saw one at a garage sale a few years back.

So handy and a  kid can operate it! 

that's Dom making applesauce!

Anyway, this soup does have a bit of wait time with those tomatoes roasting... but you'll be ever so thankful you did that step. House smelling all warm and lovely- tomatoes cooking in a beautiful marinade adding a wonderful depth of flavor to your tomato soup... yep, it's a good thing.

Creamy Tomato-Balsamic Soup

Cooking the vegetables at the high temperature of 500° caramelizes their natural sugars and deepens their flavor; the liquid poured over them ensures they won't burn. Prepare the soup up to two days ahead; reheat over medium heat before serving.

1 cup less-sodium beef broth, divided
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
5 garlic cloves
2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes, drained
Cooking spray
3/4 cup half-and-half
Cracked black pepper (optional)

Preheat oven to 500°.
Combine 1/2 cup of broth, sugar, vinegar, and soy sauce in a small bowl. Place onion, garlic, and tomatoes in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Pour broth mixture over tomato mixture. Bake at 500° for 50 minutes or until vegetables are lightly browned.

Place tomato mixture in a blender. Add remaining 1/2 cup broth and half-and-half, and process until smooth. Strain mixture through a sieve into a bowl; discard solids. Garnish with cracked black pepper, if desired.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1/2 cup)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 120(35% from fat); FAT 4.7g (sat 3g,mono 1.5g,poly 0.1g); PROTEIN 3.8g; CHOLESTEROL 23mg; CALCIUM 120mg; SODIUM 452mg; FIBER 1.7g; IRON 1.7mg; CARBOHYDRATE 14.9g

Julie Grimes
Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2005