Monday, February 23, 2009

Tomato Orange Soup, or I Love Power Tools


I had this soup at a school pot luck dinner and LOVED it. I'm told it is a recipe from a deli in town that is known for delicious food.


The key is to use quality ingredients. Violet helped me squeeze the orange juice and I used tomatoes I brought home and froze from the farmer's market.


After it has all cooked, it needs to be blended. You can do this in a conventional blender, but that involves ladling hot soup into it. Also, I've heard you must be extra careful when removing the lid or else you can end up with hot soup on your ceiling. Here is where I get out the power tool, the immersion blender. You can just stick it right in the pot and blend it smooth. I could have used a smaller pot because I had to tip the soup to one side to cover the top of the blender so it wouldn't spray. Still, much less work than the on the counter version.

Elephant's Tomato Orange Soup
1/4 cup unsalted butter
28 oz unsalted diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup fresh orange juice

In a saucepan melt butter, add onion and sauté until translucent. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, baking soda and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Purée in a blender and return to sauce pan. OR use an immersion blender and keep it right there in the pan! Stir in orange juice and cream. Simmer and serve.

We ate it with grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches. YUMMY!

5 comments:

SquishyCuteStuff said...

Oh my gosh! This looks insanely good! I might dig out my immersion blender and whip some up tomorrow ☺

ps...Do you have any good recipes with lentils? I want to cook them ,but I don't know what to do with them :P

randiepdx said...

Years and years ago I was the assistant cheese buyer at Elephants Delicatessen, which believe me, was far less cool than it may sound. I ate gobs of this soup, and we sold infinite amounts of it.

mushroommeadows said...

I love tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches; the ultimate comfort food! YUMMY pictures, by the way!

Chris said...

Sally--What kind of blender do you have? Is it metal? Mine's plastic and has developed a crack. I totally want to make that soup.

@SquishyCuteStuff, here's a lentil soup recipe I love:

Lentil Soup (adapted from Alton Brown)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 pound lentils, picked and rinsed
1 quart diced tomatoes, with juice
1 quart chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cumin

Place the olive oil into a large 6-quart Dutch oven and set over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion, carrot, celery and salt and sweat until the onions are translucent, approximately 6 to 7 minutes. Add coriander and cumin and toast for 2 minutes. Add the lentils, tomatoes, and broth, and stir to combine. Increase the heat to high and bring just to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook at a low simmer until the lentils are tender, approximately 35 to 40 minutes. Serve immediately with sauerkraut.

Hello, I'm Sally. said...

Chris, I have a Cuisinart Smart Stick. The handle is plastic, but the attachment is metal. I've heard that the Kitchen Aide immersion blender gets good ratings, more spendy though.

Thanks for the lentil soup recipe!