Thursday, October 1, 2009

Tomato-Gin Soup




I made this soup for a bbq a few weeks ago (odd thing to take to a bbq, but it was a hit!) I love a good tomato soup, and I was intrigued by adding gin and nutmeg. Surprise, surprise... it tastes awesome! The gin is so subtle that you can't quite place what the flavor is, but it adds a depth to the simple broth. This recipe also came with a great idea for serving any creamy soup: whip up some of the cream and place a dollop on top of the hot soup right before serving. Unlike sour cream or yogurt, the whipped cream slowly dissolves into a luscious foam on top of the broth. So yummy!



RECIPE:
Tomato-Gin Soup
From Gourmet Magazine, September 2009

INGREDIENTS
1.5 cups chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter
2 pounds tomatoes, halved
1 russet (baking) potato, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1-2 bay leaves
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock (reduced-sodium or no-salt)
1.5 cups chilled heavy cream, divided (or substitute 1 cup half and half or milk)
1/3 cup gin
3/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

DIRECTIONS:
Cook onion in butter in a 4-qt pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, potato, tomato paste, bay leaves, broth, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer briskly, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes.

Discard bay leaves. Puree soup in batches in a blender (or with a hand-held blender) until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids).

Strain through a fine mesh sieve back into pot. Stir in 1 cup cream (alternative: milk or half and half), gin, nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, beat remaining 1/2 cup cream with an electric mixer until it holds soft peaks.

Serve soup hot, topped with a dollop of whipped cream (it will spread out and float on top like foam).

2 comments:

  1. Looks good Alli! It is definitely getting to be a soup time of year. We have about 15 tomatoes from the garden that need to be used...

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's totally soup season!! I'm going to try to post as many soups as I can in the next few months.

    ReplyDelete