I love every season on the homestead; the quiet snows of winter, the fresh beginnings and new buds of spring, the riotous green growth of full summer but – best of all – the gathering time of fall.
It’s time to harvest wild apples, pickle the extra cucumbers, freeze mountains of green beans and to pig out on those ‘oh-so-delicious-can’t-buy-ones-that-taste-this-way-in-the-store’ fresh tomatoes with every single meal!
Tomato and cucumber sandwiches are great for breakfast. Stuffed tomatoes or a curried lentil and tomato stew make a pretty tasty lunch. And how about just plain old sliced tomatoes on the side with whatever’s being served up for dinner? It doesn’t matter. A freshly picked, sun ripened tomato makes any meal pretty much perfect. Well, maybe not a peanut butter sandwich but… who knows???
My absolute favorite though? Freshly made Tomato Basil Soup. Yes, it is absolutely, positively delightful and — sorry name brand cans of soup off the grocery shelf — it makes your stuff look pretty sorry. When I’m fortunate enough to have a glut of cherry tomatoes (and perhaps a few full sized tomatoes as well) I make a big batch and freeze it (oh, how hard it is to delay gratification and actually get the soup in the freezer instead of just guzzling it straight out of the blender!). And in the winter months when I’m sick and tired of all those “quiet winter snows?” I just pull a jar of Tomato Basil Soup out of the freezer and reheat it on the stove while my face — along with my tummy — are smiling away (trust me friends, tummies can indeed smile!).
Here’s a “sort of” recipe since I never measure anything:
Enough cherry and/or Roma type tomatoes to fill a large baking sheet
1/2 a medium onion sliced
Fresh garlic cloves (according to your taste)
6 to 8 fresh basil leaves (large)
Salt and pepper to taste
Good quality olive oil
Pile all of the above (but only 1/2 the basil) into the baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Toss gently to evenly coat everything with oil.
Add salt and pepper.
Roast in the oven at 450 degrees until there’s a fair amount of ‘char’ on all the ingredients.
Once ingredients are out of oven and cooled down, place in a high speed
blender with the remaining basil and puree until all of the
tomato peels have been pureed.
This usually makes about two quarts of soup.
