Smoked Tomato Soup

My brother-in-law Jim was the executive chef in a restaurant in California for many years, Slocum House, and one of his specialties was Smoked Tomato Soup. I never had the pleasure of tasting it at the restaurant, but my interest was piqued when he told me about it. This isn't his recipe, I wanted to see how I could do on my own. I didn't write down things as I went (duhhh...) but this is pretty close to how I did it.

4-5 pounds fresh beefsteak tomatoes(or any large variety for that matter)
Olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onions
Salt and pepper
Pinch of cayenne
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 gallon chicken stock
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
1 cup heavy cream
Fresh basil sprigs

First I washed the tomatoes then sliced in half. Then I removed most of the seeds by squeezing gently and scraping seeds off



This is an easy way of seeding tomatoes



Next I put the tomatoes in a bowl and poured a tablespoon or two of olive oil over the tomatoes and mixed them well. I fired up the smoker and kept it on a low temperature but a good amount of smoke. Most recipes that I saw online called for smoking for about 30 minutes. I'm a guy, so I think that if 30 minutes of smoking is good, then 2-3 hours must be even better. I was NOT disappointed.

I'm sure if you like smoking foods, I am sure that this is a lovely sight to you also:



After smoking it's back to the kitchen with the 'maters'.
In a pot I added the garlic, smoked tomatoes, some salt and pepper to taste, and the onions. I added 2 quarts of chicken broth, brought it to a boil, then reduced the heat to a simmer and cook for 1 hour or so. Using a blender (a hand-held blender would have been perfect in this situation) I pureed the soup, leaving it slightly chunky. Then I stirred in the parsley, then the heavy cream. If needed you can re-season with salt and pepper. Right before serving you can add a sprig of fresh basil to the bowl if you would like.

This turned out so good; thick, smokey, rich. You can bet that I will be making this again soon.