I wouldn’t say I had a “bumper” crop of tomatoes this year. My husband hates when I buy too many plants, I don’t know why this effects him; he doesn’t deal with them. Anyway I only bought a few plants and they were doing great until we got SO much rain that they did this whole concentric cracking. Yes I had to google what what happening to my crop.
Here is what google said, in case you were wondering what I am talking about OR if you had the same problem I had.
“Concentric cracking is a type of fruit cracking that occurs when tomatoes split into concentric rings around the stem end. It’s caused by unfavorable growing conditions, such as rapid changes in soil moisture levels, heavy rain, or deep watering after a long dry period. The sudden abundance of water causes the insides of the tomatoes to grow faster than the outer skin, resulting in the tomatoes cracking.”
Cracks or not I have no problem just slicing off the bad part and use the rest of the tomato. You spend time and money on them and they taste better than anything you can get at the store.
I love my food mill it helps keep me a little sane when processing tomatoes. There are a dozen ways to remove the skin and seeds but they are all more work than I really care to do. So this is my go-to kitchen gadget.
I am going to make this sometime this week and try roasting the veggies. I think it will bring a little more depth of flavor to the pot. I mean how could it not. I like adding the chicken broth to this soup, it makes it a little lighter and not so heavy tomato. If you like heavy tomato taste I would use a little less chicken broth.
Garden Tomato Soup
Equipment
- 1 food mill optional but works great
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 large white onion finely chopped
- 1 large garlic clove minced
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 5-6 large tomatoes peeled and seeded
- 1½ teaspoons sugar
- 1 sprig fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried
- Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a 5 or 6 quart Dutch oven, heat the oil and butter over medium heat until the butter melts. Add the onion a cook till soft, add garlic cook another minute. Add the flour and stir to coat the onion and garlic.
- Add the broth, tomatoes, sugar, thyme, and ¼ tsp. each salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat while stirring, making sure the flour doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Cover and reduce heat to low, simmer 40 minutes. If using sprig of thyme, remove. Let it cool slightly and then puree in batches in a blender or food processor. Rinse the pot and return the soup; season with salt and pepper. Serve warm. Garnish as desired.
If you ever wondered what to do with the rind of your Parmigiana Reggiano save them up in a plastic baggy in the fridge or freezer and you can add them to your soup while it is simmering. Remove before you puree.
