Recipe

Rustic Roasted Heirloom Tomato Soup with Balsamic Vinegar and Blue Cheese

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Photo by ChezSuzanne

This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Recipe Using Heirloom Tomatoes
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ChezSuzanne's Notes: I recently spent a week in New Mexico taking a cooking class on authentic southwestern cooking with Jane Butel. It was so much fun and really educational. Now I'm in the midst of looking at...
I recently spent a week in New Mexico taking a cooking class on authentic southwestern cooking with Jane Butel. It was so much fun and really educational. Now I'm in the midst of looking at ways I can incorporate the things I learned into my cooking - so you might be seeing a fair amount of southwestern influenced recipes from me for awhile. In this recipe, I roasted a mixture of several kinds of heirloom tomatoes and separately roasted a few poblano peppers. Additional flavors come from chopped basil, onion, balsamic vinegar and blue cheese. I finished it with a sprinkle of finely minced basil leaves and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar-blue cheese. You can put this through a food mill, or even a blender, to get a smoother soup, but I prefer a more rustic texture I get with my food processor. You can spike up the heat or calm it down by how many roasted poblano peppers you put into it. Adding just one pepper gives the roasted pepper flavor without any heat; four peppers make a pretty spicy soup. It's good hot or cold, but you'll need less salt if you're serving it hot.

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Makes 7-8 cups

5 pounds mixture of heirloom tomatoes, big juicy ones are best! Ask a question about this ingredient

2 tablespoons garlic, divided Ask a question about this ingredient

1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided Ask a question about this ingredient

1 1/2 teaspoon pepper Ask a question about this ingredient

1 1/2 teaspoon sugar Ask a question about this ingredient

5 tablespoons olive oil, divided Ask a question about this ingredient

3 cups chopped yellow onion Ask a question about this ingredient

1 red pepper, chopped Ask a question about this ingredient

3 poblano peppers Ask a question about this ingredient

1/3 cup finely chopped basil, plus more for garnish Ask a question about this ingredient

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, divided Ask a question about this ingredient

1 tablespoon sherry Ask a question about this ingredient

1 ounce crumbled gorgonzola blue cheese, divided Ask a question about this ingredient

Preheat the oven to 300F. Slice the tomatoes into 3/4" thick slices, toss with 1 tablespoon garlic, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, pepper and sugar. Place on cookie sheets and roast for 2 hours, or until they are puckered all around the edges.
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Roast the poblano peppers until the skins are blackened. Remove from the oven and place in a bowl of ice water for 3-4 minutes. This will make peeling the thin skins much easier. Peel, remove the seeds and coarsely chop. Set aside.
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Saute the onion, red pepper and remaining tablespoon of garlic in the remaining olive oil until soft. Add the roasted tomatoes, roasted peppers, basil and remaining salt, pepper and basil. Cook for about 10 minutes to mingle the flavors and break up the tomatoes.
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Pour the soup in batches into a food processor and process to get the consistency you want. Pour the soup back into the pot. Add 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, 1/2 ounce of blue cheese, and sherry and stir in to at least partly melt the blue cheese.
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Place the rest of the balsamic vinegar in a small pot on the stove and heat. Add the remaining blue cheese and melt. Drizzle on top of the soup. Sprinkle with some finely chopped basil.
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10 Comments on Rustic Roasted Heirloom Tomato Soup with Balsamic Vinegar and Blue Cheese

lastnightsdinner added about 1 year ago

This is just lovely.

ChezSuzanne added about 1 year ago

Thanks lastnightsdinner!

gingerroot added about 1 year ago

Yum...this looks so delicious! I've been on a blue cheese kick over the past few weeks and I'm always looking for good tomato recipes (especially soup!). I'm saving this...can't wait to try it.

ChezSuzanne added about 1 year ago

Thanks gingerroot! I love blue cheese too. Just be careful not to add too much of it or it will overwhelm the tomato flavors. I made your cherry sorbet last week again and just love how refreshing it is!

gingerroot added about 1 year ago

I'm so glad you are still enjoying the cherry sorbet. Thanks for the blue cheese tip - I actually made WinneAb's Heirloom Tomato, Basil and Goat Cheese Pie tonight for a summer gathering and subbed mascarpone with just a touch of mild blue cheese (I did not have goat cheese on hand) and it was delicious.

ChezSuzanne added about 1 year ago

You're welcome! I'm glad it worked so well. I want to try WinnieAb's pie too and love your idea of mascarpone with a little blue cheese.

dymnyno added about 1 year ago

My printer is on too...I love Sante Fe, the marketplace, the galleries, and the great restaurants!! I love the roadside roasted pepper stands....those are the best peppers that I have ever tasted. You soup reminds me of all that I love about about that area.

ChezSuzanne added about 1 year ago

I love that area too! I had some roasted peppers at the Santa Fe farmers market last year that were just killer! I try to get out there on one pretext or another once a year. Thanks so much for your kind words!

Lizthechef added about 1 year ago

Already turned on the printer before I finished reading your wonderful recipe! So happy to get a taste of your New Mexican cooking class...Wonder how this would be chilled, perhaps minus the cheese?

ChezSuzanne added about 1 year ago

Thanks! It would be just fine without the blue cheese - no worries there. If you wanted to substitute a different cheese you could try parmesan, pecorino or even try a little Mexican cojita cheese. I also had it without any cheese at all, and it still tasted great to me.