Roasted Tomato and Bacon Soup

I used to hate tomato soup. I had it once as a kid and never could understand why it was so sweet and completely unlike any tomato I’d ever had and so I always avoided it. A few years back I decided to create a soup that imbued everything I love about tomatoes topped with a little bacon for fun.

First, the tomatoes have to be roasted. The way the flavor of a tomato sweetens as it condenses it truly one of the more beautiful things to happen in a kitchen. Second, the soup needs texture, none of this homogenized liquid, lacking all character and identity. You must know that you are eating a tomato. Third, no sweetener. Occasionally, a touch of brown sugar works to quiet the acidity of a soup, but the canned soup machine takes it to the extreme with their fructose laden liquid. I wanted the natural sweetness brought about by roasting and further coaxed along by the sweetness of well browned onions.

This recipe is incredibly simple and really doesn’t take a whole lot of effort on your part, but it does require a food mill. If you don’t have one then you will need to peel and seed the tomatoes, just be sure to keep all of that lovely juice to add to the soup. I am eating this soup tonight as a first course to a dinner of summer truffle gnocchi (recipe to come another time) and a lovely salad of greens, but you can just as easily serve it alongside your favorite grilled cheese or even with some slices of toasted baguette. However you choose to have it, I hope you enjoy my recipe.

Roasted Tomato and Bacon Soup

14 Medium Sized Tomatoes, I used San Marzano, sliced in  half

Olive Oil

4 Strips Bacon, chopped

1/2 Yellow Onion, small dice

1 Garlic Clove, minced

Sea Salt, to taste

Freshly Ground Pepper, to taste

2-4 Basil Leaves, sliced in a chiffonade

Place the sliced tomatoes on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and roast at 375F for 30-45 minutes. Remove from the oven, cool, run through a food mill and set aside.

Sauté the chopped bacon in a medium sized pot and remove (with care) when it is nice and crisp. Add in the onions and saute in the rendered bacon fat until evenly browned. Deglaze the pan with a ladle full of tomato and scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan before adding the rest of the tomato. Season with sea salt, pepper and stir in the basil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Ladle into a bowl and top with some of the crispy bacon and enjoy!

Serves 2-6 depending on the size of your desired serving.

Note: Instead of tossing all of the excess tomato skin and seeds, try drying it and grinding it into a powder for an interesting garnish.