Roasted Tomato Orzo Soup
by I made this last night, and it's pretty close to the way I'd like it.
Ingredients:
1 head garlic, skins removed, plus two cloves, minced.
5 ripe beefsteak tomatoes
6 roma tomatoes, halved
4 cups water
3 cups cooked chicken (white or dark meat), shredded
1 lb. orzo
2 cups white wine
1/2 cup sherry
1 bunch fresh basil
3 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
5 shallots, chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
olive oil
unsalted whipped butter
Salt & Pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.
Cut the tops off the beefsteak tomatoes and hollow out some of the seeds and juice, reserving that liquid and the tops themselves.
In a large, long, deep roasting pan, place the beefsteak tomatoes face-up, and scatter the roma tomatoes around them. Add 1 cup white wine to cover. Stuff the hollowed tomatoes with as many cloves of garlic as will fit inside them. Place the tomato tops back on and roast for about 60 minutes, covered, or until the beefsteaks are tender to the touch and the skin is wilting off them.
Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature. Spoon the garlic out of the tomatoes and set aside. Carefully remove the skin from both kinds of tomatoes and discard (if they're not fully cooled, you'll burn your fingers - it really hurts). Place the tomatoes in a large bowl and crush them with your hands, being careful not to crush all the texture.
In a large pot, add about 3 tablespoons olive oil and 3 tablespoons whipped butter and set to medium high heat. Melt the butter, then add the shallots, minced garlic, sugar, carrots and celery. Add a handful of basil, torn and bruised. Saute until the shallots are translucent and the carrots are slightly tender. Add the tomatoes you just crushed and 1 cup white wine and sherry and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the carrots and celery are tender. If you have an immersion blender, blend the ingredients until almost smooth. You could also use a regular blender for this, or leave the veggies whole, if you choose.
Add the orzo and water. Tear any remaining basil and add that. Add the shredded chicken. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low, simmering and stirring often until the orzo is cooked or for about 15 minutes. You may need to add a little more water as the orzo cooks, depending on how thick or thin you want the soup to be.
Serve with a few fresh parmesean slices (use a vegetable peeler for that great restaurant look).
AI Summary
10 Comments
I may have to make this one day just because it sounds super yummy and I love tomatos!
What's orzo?
It's a type of pasta; shaped like rice, but a little thicker.
i knew it was kinda like rice, because it sounded almost like arroz. probably unrelated tho.
I guess no one cares about my soup. Mike was right!
awwww dont say that! mike's just a freak, dont listen to him!!!!
I brought this in for lunch today and gave a cup of it to one of the attorneys here. She said she loved it!!! Yea! I'm accepted! She also said she would add some sherry, which is a great idea.
Also a heads up: you could mince the roasted garlic and rub it onto chicken or fish for another meal. Roasting garlic really makes it sweet and light -- if you've never had it that way before, give it a try.
You could also mince it up and toss it with olive oil, light red vinegar (or even a balsamic), salt and pepper to make a roasted garlic vinegarette. It sounds impressive, but it's really easy and cheap.
Or if you're really daring, you could smear it onto some good crusty bread with a little olive oil and maybe some fresh parsley or a little italian seasoning, then broil it for a minute or two until it's nice and crispy. Great garlic bread, but it'll burn really easily.
Things I have to test:
Whether to add a little sugar (which I would add when the carrots, celery and shallot are sauteing); whether to add any of the roasted garlic, minced.
I give the option of pre-cooking your orzo, but I don't recommend that, it's really just a time saver. Orzo is one of those fantastic pastas that will pick up the flavor of whatever it cooks in, so slowly simmering it with the soup will yeild the best flavor. But we all don't have 4 hours to make a batch of soup, right?
I think I'm going to try making this either thursday or friday.
Any suggestions on other ingredients that might be good? I'm debating a little fresh oregano with the basil, and it might taste really great to throw in some butter with the tomatoes when they're roasting... Hmmm...
Oooh, and I bet it would be really great to throw a bone in there with it, like a nice roast beef bone or something.
Definitely add the sugar. Don't precook the orzo, it tastes so much better cooked in the soup and doesn't take that long. You have to make the soup in a huge stock pot, though, because the orzo will like double the total size.
I didn't try any butter with the tomatoes while they were roasting, but I tried throwing the basil in there with it and learned that roasted basil does not taste or smell good. I had to strain it out. A little olive oil might be good on them, but butter might be overkill.
If you don't want to blend some of the ingrients with an immersion blender, you can add a little cream for the same thickening effect.
The basil and white wine yeild a really fresh and sweet soup, I think oregano would not be good in it.