My favorite Sunday night meal as a kid was canned tomato soup with buttered, slice white bread dunked in. We lived in a small rural town and even though there were both a pizza and fish and chips shop, we rarely ever got takeaway. I don’t really ever remember eating takeaway pizza as a kid and fish and chips were maybe a once or twice a year treat. When we wanted a special “treat” for a lazy Sunday night, our request was always for tomato soup – the canned variety which we loved nearly as much as Andy Warhol years before.
After our recent trip to visit my family up north and the huuugge amount of tomatoes sent home with us I thought I might try my hand at making tomato soup myself. I decided to roast the tomatoes because most vegetables taste better after roasting, right? The first batch I made “straight” with just tomatoes but I thought they needed a little somethin’ somethin’ so I decided to throw in the two small squash which my parents also sent back with us. The cute little golden nuggets were just begging to be carved and turned into little jack-o-lantern heads, something which I’ve never done but have listed high on my bucket list… but it remains there still after I decided a better use for the squash would be in my soup. The choice paid off – the roasted squash add a little extra depth and texture to the soup that it had been lacking before.
I had originally thought to thrown some roasted chestnuts in as well, however unfortunately someone got a little too excited about freshly roasted chestnuts and they didn’t quite last long enough to feature in the main event that day…
Tomato soup is just made for dunking bread into. Unfortunately, I was that focused on making the soup the first time round that I forgot to get some bread so I ate it au naturale. The second attempt however I was much better prepared for and picked up some sprouted rye sourdough which we buttered, sliced into “soldiers” and dunked into our soup, the way it should be done :)
This soup fits perfectly into the “childhood-favorite-remake-that’s-way-better-than-the-original” category – not only are the flavours a million times better than the processed soup (and bread) stars of the meal from my childhood, the soup is relatively easy to make – after you’ve chopped the veggies and popped them into the oven, all you really need to do is sit and wait while the oven does all the work for you. Post baking, they can go straight into the blender, forgoing the need for the normal big soup pot which, lets be honest – is a pain in the you-know-what to clean! So not only do we tick the “childhood-favorite-remake-that’s-way-better-than-the-original” box, we also tick the box for a perfect (read: easy and little clean up) Sunday night meal.
- 1kg tomatoes, washed and halved
- 3 large garlic bulbs
- 300g squash, washed and chopped to a similar size as the tomato halves
- 2 cup veg stock
- 2 Tbsp coconut cream
- 1 tsp paprika
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Extra coconut cream, to serve
- Preheat oven to 205C || 400F
- Wash and chop the tomatoes and squash and spread out on a lined baking tray. Add the garlic cloves and bake for 50 - 60 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool a few minutes. Remove the garlic gloves from their skins and discard the skins. Add the garlic to a blender with the roast tomatoes and squash, and the remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth and creamy, and then serve swirled with extra coconut cream and a generous sprinkle of cracked pepper.
Lauren says
Definitely making this in the colder months to come.
I kid you not, one of my favourite childhood meals was Heinz canned tomato soup but with cheese sandwiches in white bread for dunking. Absolute comfort food right there.
Katie @ Whole Nourishment says
Oh yes, tomato soup and bread to dunk is one of those comforting classics. I like that you chose to roast the tomatoes first, it probably adds a smoky depth to the soup. For once I can say it’s kind of warming up around here, but when it turns cold and grey again tomato soup may just be on the menu.
Josefine says
These photos!! Oh my…. Gorgeous!
This looks and sounds so delicious. And I love hearing about childhood memories :)
Melissa says
Made this tonight, it’s delicious! Wishing I had’ve made a double batch. I changed the coconut cream for normal cream as well :)
tohercore says
So glad you liked it Melissa! Double batch next time :)