Kelly Rossiter
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My mother-in-law is visiting our cottage this week and I thought I would serve her lots of vegetarian meals in an effort to demystify the whole thing in her mind. I'm always amazed that both she and my own mother are so alarmed when faced with providing vegetarian options for my kids at family dinners. However, she cleaned out her freezer before she came and we were the recipients of a few steaks and some chicken, so my plans didn't exactly pan out.
The other thing that didn't pan out was the weather. Our cottage is water access so when the weather is bad, it's not so easy getting into town for provisions. We've had quite a tempest tossed week, remaining cold and damp with our daily lashing of rain, thunder and lightning. Once the fresh vegetables were gone, a bit of scavenging through the cupboards was in order. A warming soup seemed to be a requirement, so I went looking through my vegan and vegetarian cookbooks to see what I could come up with. I had all the ingredients for this tomato soup, more or less, so that's what I tried. It didn't escape my mother-in-law's attention that I was using a vegan cookbook, but I don't think I made a convert. She was happy to eat the soup for lunch, but what she was really waiting for was the steak for dinner.
Tomato Soup
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 lb potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not the kind packed in oil)
6 cups water or vegetable broth
1 28 ounce can of tomatoes, chopped
juice of 1/2 lemon, or to taste.
1. Heat the oil in a large pot and saute onions until they are translucent. Add the garlic, herbs, salt and pepper. Saute for one more minute, or until the garlic is fragrant.
2. Add the potatoes and sun dried tomatoes. Pour in the water. Cover and bring to a boil. Once the soup is boiling, lower the heat to medium, cover, and let simmer for about 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the sun-dried tomatoes are soft.
3. Add the tomatoes and heat through. Puree using an immersion blender, or transfer to a food processor. Return to the pot. Add the lemon juice and taste for seasoning.
From Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero
Difficulty Level: Easy
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