Easy Tomato Soup

It’s a wonderful time of year when the worst of winter is behind us and spring has officially begun. But history tells us that we will likely have many rainy days ahead until summer finally arrives.
While it is great any time of year, we turn to something simple and easy to make at home on a rainy day. A grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup is one of those dishes. It’s easy to make a grilled cheese sandwich and this should require no instruction. But for tomato soup, often times we turn to something canned from the supermarket.
Making your own homemade tomato soup however is very simple. The results are always better. Best of all, you can forgo many low quality ingredients such as sugars, flavorings and low quality oils found in most supermarket tomato soups.
While you can substitute canned tomatoes in place of fresh tomatoes, we always advocate using fresh tomatoes. This time of year, virtually all supermarket tomatoes will be imported. Picked unripe and far from being flavorful, this may not seem like a good option.
Thankfully, we have our wonderful local farmers markets. As manager of our Wednesday Canyon Country and Saturday Old Town Newhall farmers markets, we bring in only local farmers selling produce that they grew themselves. The produce they bring is picked ripe and always fresher than produce you get elsewhere.
We have farmers at each market that make use of greenhouses or hoop houses to extend their growing season. Though this time of year can be sporadic, we have tomatoes almost all year round. These fresh tomatoes will bring a wonderful taste to this dish.
As we approach summer, more varieties of tomatoes will be at our farmers markets including amazing heirloom tomatoes and more. Feel free to experiment with different varieties to achieve the taste you are looking for.
For a grilled cheese sandwich, we are thrilled to have artisan sourdough bread makers at both markets. Our Saturday Newhall market hosts Häsi Bread. Owner and head baker Matias is California born but draws on his Austrian and Afghan roots to bring a beautiful wild fermented sourdough to our market. The bread contains turmeric and butterfly pea flower which adds nutrients to the bread along with beautiful color.
Our Canyon Country Market hosts a Santa Clarita local. Sold under the name Carbfather, owner Jerad developed a love for making sourdough bread from scratch. After baking it for family and friends for years, he branched out into festivals and now has a home at our market.
Focusing on using quality ingredients makes a huge difference in our own cooking. So next time the weather turns cold, grab what you need to make this simple and delicious soup.

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs Fresh tomatoes
(can sub a 28oz can of
tomatoes)

1 Small onion

1 Medium carrot

¼ cup Butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Melt butter in a saucepan. Slice onion into coarse slices and add to the saucepan. Saute the onion until soft and translucent without browning. Remove from stove.

2. Add the onion and all of the melted butter from the pan into a blender or food processor. Add fresh tomatoes and carrot. Blend on high speed for 30 seconds until mixture is smooth.

3. Pour the mixture into the saucepan. Cook over medium heat for several minutes until the mixture starts to steam. Reduce heat to low and cook an additional 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve. Makes two individual servings.

The Old Town Newhall Farmers Market operates every Saturday from 8:30 until 1pm in the parking lot of the Old Town Newhall library. The Canyon Country Farmers Market operates every Wednesday from 4pm until 8pm in the parking lot of the Canyon Country Community Center. Both markets are certified farmers markets and operate year round, rain or shine. The markets can be found on Facebook, Instagram or at www.newhallfarmersmarket.com and www.canyoncountryfarmersmarket.com.

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