As you saw yesterday, we had quite the adventurous weekend. And it didn’t stop there. Chris and I headed to Wyoming today, to check out Sierra Trading Post [the store!] and Vedauwoo [climbing/bouldering/hiking area]. But more on that, tomorrow.

Time to talk about food. One of my favorite pastimes.

Like I mentioned last week, tomatoes are finally in season around here. This of course means I was a bit over zealous at the first tomato spotting, and picked up a few too many.

But really. Can you have too many tomatoes?

At some point last year, I set out to start making my own soup recipes. I never really fully committed + only ended up with 1-2 original recipes. However, now that the temps are slowly starting to drop, I’m hoping to start back up with my grand soup making plans.

I’ve never made a tomato soup. My recipe or anyone else’s. So I figure, for my first tomato soup, why don’t I just make it up?

I wanted the soup to be seasonal.

Comforting, but summery. Flavorful, but simple.

Pretty! Yes, I wanted this soup to be pretty.

And maybe it wouldn’t be just tomato soup.

Maybe it would be roasted tomato + grilled corn soup.

This soup took a bit of work. But don’t worry, on my end, not yours.

I started with a set of ingredients, but had to add + add + add. Lucky for you I measured + took notes. Actually, I didn’t take notes. For some reason, I can remember recipe ingredients + amounts as I add them, and then plunk them into the computer hours later. Remember taco night? Three recipes? Nothing was written down.

However, my memory only goes so far. Pretty much any day of the week, I can’t remember what I did 3 days before + don’t know where my keys are. Details…

So, after adding a little of this + that, I felt the soup was finally done. Chris agreed!

The texture + flavors came out just as I had hoped.

Thick, but not creamy.

Savory, but fresh.

Lovely on it’s own, or with a kick of protein.

Grilled tofu, provided the perfect chew + crunch to this soup. Roasted chickpeas, would have also been a fabulous alternative.

Roasted Tomato + Grilled Corn Soup [serves 4-6]

~6 med. tomatoes [2c after roasting]
2 lg. ears of corn

2t sunflower oil
s+p

2T garlic, minced
2 med. yellow onions, chopped
3T tomato paste
4c low sodium veggie broth
1-1.5t salt
2T fresh basil, chopped
2t fresh thyme, chopped
1/2t smoked paprika
black pepper [a lot!]
1/2T sucanat [or pure cane sugar]

Tofu

1 block extra firm tofu
s+p
1/8t garlic powder

Cut + press tofu, if adding to the soup.
Preheat grill to 400* med-high.
Wash, halve + de-stem tomatoes and place on a greased baking sheet.
Sprinkle with salt + pepper.
Place pan on the grill [or in the oven – might take a bit longer] for about 25min, flipping once.
Shuck the corn completely and lightly grease with oil and sprinkle with salt + pepper.
In a large pot, combine veggie broth, onions, garlic, tomato paste, basil, thyme, smoked paprika, sucanat, black pepper + salt.
Bring to a boil over medium heat, cover + reduce heat to simmer.
Grill corn for 9-12min, turning 3-4x.
Carefully, cut corn kernels off of the cob. Hold the cob vertically and slice in a downward motion.
Add tomatoes + juices [~2c] to the pot and 3/4 of the corn.
Cover + return to simmer for 20min.
Turn off the heat + using an immersion/hand blender, blend until fairly smooth. [no onion pieces or tomato skin, but texture will not be 100% smooth]
Turn the heat back on to med-low, add in the remaining 1/4 of the corn, cover + simmer for 10-15min. *If cooking tofu: Grease your grill grates, sprinkle the tofu with salt, pepper + garlic powder. Grill for 6-8min per side, until charred.
Taste + add more salt/pepper as needed. If it’s too acidic add 1t more sucanat.
Pour into bowls + top with tofu.

*Make sure you are using flavorful, ripe tomatoes. Nothing worse than watery tomato soup!

*If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can whirl this in your blender, if it’s able to run with hot liquid inside. Be careful!

*If you don’t have smoked paprika, I highly recommend adding it to your collection of spices. I use it all the time and the 1/2t is definitely an important addition to the soup.

*If you’re not using low sodium veggie broth, do not add salt until at least half way through cooking. Taste and add 1/4t at a time.