Bon Voyage Bridget

     BRIDGET'S TOMATO SOUP (was better than mine)

   I read an article the other day that said the internet exists to make us feel inadequate: that we aren't buying the right stuff, living the right way, that our efforts in every department are lacking. You have only to look at your Facebook feed to see how much better your classmates are aging/vacationing/eating/living, right? And what does Pinterest exist for, if not to show you that as a cake decorator, you suck?

   But, hey, it's natural to want to put your best selfie forward, the one that shows only one chin, and as my friend Benson says, it's ok to edit. So full disclosure: the first time I tried to make this fabulous recipe I wasn't on my A-game.  I went back to the source, my coworker Bridget, and said, "Walk me through your incredible soup again." Because the soup she brought to work in September was so good it was nuts. 

   After conferring with Bridget, I was up for a do-over.  I took the last tomatoes from our staff garden that nobody else claimed, oven roasted them and decided to tackle the soup again. In mid October I still have fresh basil in my front porch pot, so here goes:

                                         BRIDGET'S TOMATO SOUP (is still better than mine)

   If you want to oven roast the tomatoes first, here's what I did. Halve tomatoes, toss in a bowl with a glug of olive oil, spread evenly on a baking sheet, cut sides up and roast at 450 about 40 minutes. The Barefoot Contessa tells you to add some sugar, salt and balsamic vinegar. I'm sure she's correct about that, because today Facebook showed me that she and her husband Jeffrey are on a vacay in Paris, so obviously she's got things figured out.

butter or oil

3 cloves of garlic, peeled, chopped roughly

1/2 onion, chopped

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

about 2 cups roasted tomatoes, juice, seeds and all

3-4 cups veggie or chicken broth

1 large handful fresh basil

1/3 cup heavy cream

 salt and pepper

   In a saucepan, melt about 1 tablespoon butter (or oil). Over low heat, cook and stir garlic and onion until soft and translucent. Add seasoning, stir. Add roasted tomatoes, stir. Add enough broth just to cover veggies, simmer 20 minutes.

   Add a large handful of fresh basil, stir. Carefully transfer soup to a blender or food processor and puree until desired texture. Bridget kept it a little chunky. Return to saucepan, and off the heat, add about 1/3 cup heavy cream (more or less as desired. Bridget's directions specified "add cream to the count of 3" which when I measured, was about 1/3 cup). Taste, season with salt and pepper.

   Now, a critical eye will be able to detect that  I didn't handle the cream correctly in the soup pictured above.  To avoid  having the cream curdle or separate,  you can temper the cream by warming it in the microwave before adding to the soup, or adding a few spoonfuls of soup to the cream and stirring it before adding  the mixture to the saucepan. How Ina would do it is anybody's guess, and she's in Paris anyhow.

   And Bridget? She's got things figured out, too. We wish her smooth sailing on her next adventure!

We are open until the end of the month so if you have any applesauce to make, need to get a unique pumpkin, a stash of those fabulous eggs, or  some squash  to store for winter, or any of the hundreds of other delicious and beautiful things we have in store, come see us before the season is over.  Otherwise we open for Christmas trees the day after Thanksgiving, and will be back  for our produce and nursery season in 2016 on March 2! 

                                                                                               (Like Bridget)

Fruitfully yours,

Karin