Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Italian Tomato and Onion Soup



Today the weather was bone chilling cold. The type of cold where you can’t bundle up enough to stay warm no matter what you do. To me this is soup weather. This particular recipe is a modified version of a baked onion side dish I used to make with cipollini onions. Today the basics of the recipe became soup. Here is what we had tonight for a starter course.

Italian Tomato and Onion Soup
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced (allow to stand 10 minutes so the allicin can develop)
1 cup water
14 ounces canned diced tomatoes
1 cup pinot grigio
½ tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely minced
½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire (for “meaty flavor”)
additional water or white wine if soup is too thick for your taste (I added another cup of water)
vegan parmesan substitute for serving, optional

Directions:

Cook the red onion and garlic in simmering water until the onion is soft. Now add the remaining ingredients and cook for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to marry. Depending on the heat level of your burner you may need to add a little additional water (or white wine) to keep the soup at the correct consistency.

When serving you can add a little vegan parmesan, if desired. It isn’t necessary but does add a nice flavor and aroma.

Nutritional Information (does not include the optional vegan parmesan cheese substitute):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 162.08
Calories From Fat (2%) - 3.56

Total Fat - 0.43g
Saturated Fat - 0.07g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 318.1mg
Potassium - 419.19mg
Total Carbohydrates - 17.38g
Fiber - 3.25g
Sugar - 5.02g
Protein - 2.59g

Comments:

If I were trying to describe the flavor of this soup I would say it tastes mostly of onion, tomato and herb with other flavors in the background. Worcestershire and Pinot Grigio are definitely background flavors.

Each serving of this soup contains approximately 100mg of calcium and 2.75mg of iron. Not bad for a little bowl of soup.

Unrelated Note:

My food dehydrator arrived today. To say that I am anxious to put this to use doesn’t even begin to explain it. I am really looking forward to putting this little baby into action. You should expect to see quite a few recipes using the dehydrator in the future. We bought the dehydrator because we are trying to add more raw food to our diet and didn’t think that cold raw food would be something that we would enjoy in the winter. If anyone has a traditional recipe they would like to see made raw please let me know. Ideas are always welcomed.

14 comments:

  1. Yum. This sounds so good. Problem - can I give up 1 cup of Pinot Grigio.....hmmmm. LOL!

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  2. Heather,

    I see it as a reason to open another bottle of Pinot Grigio. You could always stick the cork in it and refrigerate for the the next dish. But .... who wants to do that?

    Alicia

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  3. Heather,

    Pinot Grigio is hands down my favorite white wine. But that is what makes is so great to cook with. I love to concentrate that wonderful flavor.

    Alicia

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  4. This sounds like just the thing for a cold day: warm and comforting soup. It looks delish...I agree that worcestershire sauce gives things a "meaty" dimension.

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  5. Rose,

    Thanks! :) It was quite yummy. I really felt like I needed soup tonight. It is so cold and windy outside, and it is suppose to start snowing any time now.

    Alicia

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  6. It's funny... Just before I opened up this post to read it, my hubby poured me a glass of late harvest reisling. I commented that it is a nice wine, but a little sweet for me, and reminded him (for the next time he buys wine) that my favorite white is Pinot Grigio.

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  7. Aisling,

    Reisling is a little sweet for me too. However, it is wonderful with Chinese food (as weird as that sounds .. German wine and Chinese). I have also been known to drink Reisling with Indian food. Overall, Pinot Grigio is my favorite. Do you have a favorite vinter?

    Alicia

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  8. Alicia, We buy local wines mostly, so generally I am drinking a local (northwestern lower Michigan) Pinot Grigio. The Reisling was local too. We have a really nice wine culture here; some of the local wines are quite excellent though perhaps we can grow only a limited number of varieties because of our climate. I haven't seen a local cabernet savignon for example, which is one of my favorite reds.

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  9. Aisling,

    You are very fortunate to have good local wine. We have tried local wine here, and it just isn't worth drinking. As much as I like wine, I have tossed some of the local stuff from here down the drain.

    My favorite everyday red has to be Amarone. But, my all time favorite red is definitely Brunello. An expensive habit I developed in Italy. See the pattern? I normally drink Italian wines. I haven't developed a taste for French wine.

    Alicia

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  10. This soup looks so delicious and comforting! I loved how you made it sound so simple to follow.

    It was raining here all day so we're having a very cold night too. We had miso soba noodle soup with napa cabbage and carrots, YUM!
    (I added some ground lean chicken for the boys so I didn't want to photograph our dinner tonight).

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  11. Oraphan,

    If you have made french onion soup this is a similar process (only no oil). It probably cooked for 45 mintues (mostly to soften the onions).

    Miso soup with soba noodles sounds wonderful. I love them both separately so I know I would love them together.

    Years ago I always had to add meat for my "boy". I think it is a man thing. They seem to crave meat.

    talk to you later,
    Alicia

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  12. I love tomato soup.I love the pino grigio idea!

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  13. Dani,

    Thanks! I hope you like the soup too.

    Alicia

    ReplyDelete

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