Roasted Tomato & Eggplant Soup

This recipe was kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision, but I’m pretty pleased with how it came out. Last night my roommate Emily came home with Creamy Tomato soup from Panera Bread and all of a sudden I found myself craving tomato soup. I’ve been attempting to post twice a week nowadays, usually on Tuesdays and Fridays, but I hadn’t thought of what to make for today (Tuesday) yet. That’s where tomato soup comes in!

This soup was influenced by a few different recipes. Last year I tried Au Bon Pain’s Eggplant Soup and found it surprisingly delicious. I’ve always loved tomato soup, but found the addition of eggplant enticing. One of the best tomato soups I’ve had in a while was at a local restaurant a town over from me. Back in September, when I had my wisdom teeth out, I couldn’t eat much other than soup and mashed potatoes. I was tired of eating soup, but found this restaurant’s tomato soup especially delicious. It was chunkier than usual and tasted like it had cheddar cheese cooked into it.

Soup also appealed to me today because I have the most horrible canker sore on the side of my tongue right now. Yesterday it was pretty painful, so I figured today it’d be starting to heal. Instead I woke up and it had just about doubled in size and was so painful I could barely eat anything. Even just swallowing or talking hurts. Not fun. After taking some medicine, my tongue feels a bit better but solid or tough food is still kind of out of the question for now.

If you are a tomato lover, you will love this soup. Roasting tomatoes brings out an incredible sweetness that you can’t really get with raw tomatoes. The roasted eggplant adds a nice, mellow flavor and the soup is finished off with some fire-roasted bell peppers. I chose to add some light cream and cheese to my soup, but you can eliminate these things if you’re looking for a soup that’s dairy-free (as well as vegan). This soup is comforting and will help keep you warm for these last few weeks of winter. It could even double as a pasta or pizza sauce!

Roasted Tomato & Eggplant Soup
makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

• Two large tomatoes, cored, seeds removed, and cut into quarters
• 1 eggplant, stem removed and sliced in half length-wise
• 1/2 of 1 sweet onion, cut into large chunks
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 28-oz can peeled or diced tomatoes
• 1 small (6 or 12 oz.) jar roasted red peppers
• handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• optional: 1/2 cup light cream or half and half
• optional: 1/4 cup cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400ºF. Lightly spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and arrange your tomatoes, eggplant, and onion chunks on top. To prevent garlic cloves from burning, insert into cored tomatoes (see photo below for reference). Drizzle veggies with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.
2. Roast your veggies for 30-40 minutes, or until the tomatoes have begun to collapse and eggplant is starting to shrivel. Remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes.
3. In a large sauce pan, combine your peeled/diced tomatoes, roasted red peppers, basil, chicken/vegetable broth, and red pepper flakes. Once your roasted veggies have cooled slightly, add them to the sauce pan as well.
4. Use an immersion blender to blend the veggies to your desired consistency. (Or, alternatively, transfer the veggies to a blender and then return to sauce pan.)
5. Heat the soup to low and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until hot. Stir in cream and cheese, if using. Serve with an extra sprinkle of cheese or your favorite type of bread and enjoy

After cutting up your veggies, place them on a lightly greased baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil on top and season with salt and pepper. Nestle your garlic cloves inside the tomatoes, as shown in the photo. Roast for 30-40 minutes.

Once your veggies are finished roasting, let them cool for 5-10 minutes.

Gently remove the skin from your eggplant. Grab a small chunk at the end of it and it should peel off rather easily.

Place your roasted veggies into a large sauce pan, along with the canned tomatoes, roasted red peppers, chicken/veggie broth, chopped basil, and red pepper flakes.

Using an immersion or regular blender, blend the soup to your desired consistency. (If you cook a lot and are considering getting an immersion blender, buy one. seriously. best thing ever.)

Heat sauce over low heat for 10-15 minutes, or until hot. Stir in cream and cheese, if using.

Serve with an extra sprinkle of cheese and some basil.

Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

The recipe for this sauce was inspired by a couple of things. One: my love of roasted red peppers. Up until a few years ago, I actually strongly disliked red bell peppers. I would always pick them out of my mom’s stir fry and was never a fan of roasted red pepper hummus. Somewhere along the line, that changed, and now red peppers are a staple in my diet!
Two: a red pepper dip that my aunt used to make with feta cheese, white beans, and garlic. This sauce tastes surprisingly similar to that dip, which leads me to believe that this recipe would be great with crackers or pretzels.

This sauce is a delicious, low-fat alternative to marinara sauce that can be whipped up in just seconds! I really love creamy sauces, but wanted to stay away from heavy cream and butter. To create the creamy consistency in this sauce, part-skim ricotta cheese and low-fat cream cheese are used. If you dislike ricotta, cottage cheese may be substituted. Or if you want to steer clear of both ricotta and cottage cheese, you could even use a combination of cream cheese and Greek yogurt. Whichever combination you choose to use, you will still come out with a zesty, creamy sauce that tastes delicious on pasta or chicken and won’t make you feel like you’re cheating on your diet. I used jarred roasted red peppers, but feel free to roast fresh bell peppers if you wish.

Ingredients:
makes 1 – 1.5 cups, or about 2 servings

• 1 12 oz. jar roasted red peppers, or about 1 cup chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 handful of fresh basil, chopped (if using dried basil, use 1-2 tsp)
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste or sauce
• 1/3 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 2 Tbsp reduced fat cream cheese
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 6-7 oz. pasta (I used half a box of whole grain penne)
• optional: 1-2 cups fresh spinach

Your ingredients, plus pasta (I didn’t end up using the spinach – someday I will get this ingredient photo right!)

Directions:

1. In a food processor, combine the first 6 ingredients. Pulse until smooth. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
2. Cook pasta according to box directions.
3. While pasta is cooking, heat creamy roasted red pepper sauce in a small saucepan over low heat just until it begins to simmer. Remove from heat. (If using spinach, add it to the heated sauce and stir until wilted.)
4. Pour sauce over pasta and enjoy with a sprinkle of extra parmesan cheese.

Roughly chop your roasted red peppers, basil, and garlic

Add peppers, garlic, basil, tomato paste, ricotta cheese, and parmesan cheese to food processor and pulse until smooth. Add salt and pepper as needed

The sauce will look something like this – smooth and creamy and delicious.

Pour heated sauce over cooked pasta and enjoy

Happy Holidays to everyone!