Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Drum Roll Please.....

My dearest friends and Savory Sisters followers (which are one and the same), today I am sharing with you one of my prized and precious recipes.

Tomato Curry Soup.

Once upon a time, we were invited to a friend’s house for dinner. When we sat down to the table, the first thing brought out was this soup. Everyone was quiet while they ate it. I was very sad when it was gone. Sad, I tell you. I’ve had tomato soup before. But this was nothing like normal tomato soup. I’d never really had curry before, so I didn’t know what the spices were. Just that they were fabulous and I needed more. Thankfully, my friend was willing to share the recipe with me. It came from a cookbook that she’s had forever that isn’t available in stores anymore.

Do you have pre-conceived ideas about tomato soup? About curry? Set them aside and give this a try. If you’re too nervous to go to the trouble, come around my house in the fall and winter. I will gladly share some with you.

I’m taking pictures of the process, cause it’s a cold and rainy day. Good for that, I think.
The recipe is listed below, but the pictures are of a double batch. I’m going to take some to a friend who is sick.


Tomato Curry Soup
¼ c butter
1 lg onion, chopped
3 carrots, shredded
2 T chopped black olives
1-2 T curry powder
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes or 3 c fresh seeded tomatoes
2 13 oz cans chicken broth
¼ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp ground cumin
1 c half & half
salt to taste

In a large pot, melt the butter at med. high heat. Cook onions, carrots and olives for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally.

It will cook down until it’s almost caramelized. Trust me. It’s supposed to do this.



Stir in the curry powder and cook for 5 minutes more. Add fresh parsley, all spice and cumin.
Freshly chopped parsley is pretty, no?

Stir this together and enjoy the fabulous smell of deliciousness.

Then add the chicken broth.

In a separate bowl, mash up those whole canned tomatoes. I heard on a cooking show once that the whole canned tomatoes are the best quality in can, as compared to diced or something else. You'll be blending anyway, so it's worth it for the quality, don't you think? Pour these into your soup and bring it to a simmer.

Reduce heat and continue simmering for 30 minutes.

It will then look like this.

This is the fun part. Messy – but fun. The soup needs to be blended until smooth. Because it’s hot, you need to blend only about 1-2 cups at a time. Again, trust me on this. Start with a cup and test your blender. You’ll be able to tell whether you can blend more or not. I tried my little hand blender thingy once, but it did not make the soup smooth enough. I guess it’s up to you though.
As you’re blending, pour the blended portions into a separate bowl. When it’s all done, return it to your original pot.

Isn't it B.E.A.Utiful?

Add the remaining chicken broth.

And the half and half.

Mmmmmm. Creamy!

Bring back up to temp and serve.

Or take liberties as the cook and give yourself a little cup full to taste.

Afterwards, you might find yourself cleaning out the bottom of the cup with your finger.

Fabulous.

See how much I love you? This is truly in my top three for precious recipes.

And, btw, I did not end up using any salt in this batch. It was perfect. Make sure you taste the finished product first.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

I Want These



I found this picture on ThePioneerWoman.com listed under the Shortcake Cookies recipe in her cooking section. I had to share it. I LOVE things like this. LOVE them.

This is evidenced in a couple of posts I put on my personal blog several months ago. You can see them here and here.


Happy cooking!