Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Kris' Awesome Tomato Soup

What A Tomato!
Kris wins this week's soup-off at Big Al's, using home-canned tomatos + fresh basil. The competition was tough with six awesome entries, but in the end, the Free Beer was hers!
The full story: Big Al's is a little brewery a few blocks from here that includes a family-friendly tap room. One Sunday, the bartender brought in a crockpot of soup to share, which was much appreciated, but one of the customers uttered the fatal words, "Ok, this is good, but I can make better."
The Throw-Down Was On!
Next week, they both brought in their best, and so did another customer. Now, every Sunday, a bunch of us brings in soup, based on the ingredient randomly selected the week before. Everyone samples anonymously and votes; winner gets a beer and bragging rights.
Here's Kris' winning entry:

  • Saute some scallions or green onions, and a cup of diced parsnip in some butter.
  • Add water and cover, steaming the mix until the parsnips are soft.
  • Add a jar of home-grown tomatoes, a box of tomato stock, and enough water to give you the right consistency.
  • Add some chopped-up fresh tomatoes (this time it was grape tomatoes, but use whatever's good right now) and bring it all up to serving temperature.
  • Shortly before serving, throw in some fresh basel, which should be chopped up until it is like tea leaves; you want the basel to steep in the soup, releasing its flavor while softening into edibility.
  • That's it. Enjoy!

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