Too many cherry tomatoes? Why not make them into soup
Even after a year, I still don't have a 100% track record with ordering my groceries from a delivery service.
So, as it happened, I found myself with more cherry tomatoes than I could possibly eat.
There are plenty of options for these little lovelies, of course, including roasting them, stuffing them, saucing them - not to mention just plain snacking on them.
Strangely, it never occurred to me to use them in a soup. The sweet flavor punch they pack can be a bit tricky to manage. In this recipe, I roasted them first to concentrate the flavor even more and then added garlic, onion and red pepper flakes to offset the sweetness a bit.
A topping of parsley and lemon zest adds just the right brightness and really takes the flavors over the top. (This garnish is a great idea for any number of soups you may make).
Add more stock if you prefer your soup more soup-y. When I heated it up for leftovers, I tossed in a handful of spinach. You could also experiment with different kinds of beans - this would be great with chickpeas, for instance.
Experiment with what you have on hand. If this year of cooking at home has taught us anything, it's to be adaptable.
Too many cherry tomatoes? Not a problem.
• M. Eileen Brown is the Daily Herald's director of strategic marketing and innovation and an incurable soup-a-holic. She specializes in vegetarian soups and blogs at soupalooza.com.
Cherry Tomato and White Bean Soup
½ cup roughly chopped parsley
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 (10-ounce) containers cherry or grape tomatoes
¼ cup olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons and more for drizzling (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
½ teaspoon red-pepper flakes
2 (15-ounce) cans white beans, rinsed
1½ cups vegetable or chicken broth, or water
Flaky salt, for serving (optional)
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, toss together the parsley and lemon zest and set aside. On a baking sheet, toss the tomatoes with ¼ cup oil and thyme; season with salt and pepper. Roast the tomatoes until they have collapsed, about 20 to 25 minutes.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and red-pepper flakes and cook until the onion is softened and the garlic is fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the rinsed beans and broth and bring to a simmer. With the back of a spoon, smash about ½ cup of the beans so they slightly thicken the broth. Season with salt and pepper.
When the tomatoes are finished roasting, add them to the soup along with any juices that have been released. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes more; season to taste with salt.
Ladle into shallow bowls. Top each serving with some of the lemon-parsley mixture.
Serves 6
Adapted from NYT Cooking