Bloody Mary Soup

First thing first - I feel it's important to note with this recipe that 3.5 pounds of heirloom  tomatoes cost us $12 at our Farmers' Market.  If you're on a budget, you can always use plum tomatoes in this recipe instead.  But the heirloom are so very, very awesome.  It makes a ton of soup, so I'd say it's well worth the cost!  And most likely, you're going to have some delicious leftovers.

We make a pretty solid Roasted Tomato & Basil soup, and that was my game plan when I started.  But like most things I cook, I decided to try a few different ingredients.  It really just depends on what we have on hand and what kind of mood I'm in!  As I added the carrots and celery, which don't go in my normal recipe, I started thinking about Bloody Marys and thought, "Why not?!"  We really liked how this soup came out!  I was so bummed we didn't have any vodka on hand!  And we were broke, so we couldn't even run to the corner store for a little bit.  The sherry was quite delicious with it, just the same.

As you may or may not have noticed... we've pretty much always posted punk rock music with our recipes.  But let's be real - our music preferences are way more diverse than just punk.  I suppose I could just choose a random punk song that I like to go with the recipe, but really, I was listening to Glasvegas the entire time I was making this soup, trying to sing along in my best Scottish accent (at least the words I understood, which is only about half of them), so it seems like the thing to post.  Here's "Geraldine", off their first album.  -jen

BLOODY MARY SOUP
Prep Time: 20 minutes  
Cook Time: 2 hours 
Difficulty:  Medium
Serves:  10-12  

• 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
• 3.5 pounds (7 medium) heirloom tomatoes, quartered
• 1 head garlic
• salt and pepper

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large red onion, diced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flake
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 can (28 ounces) whole, peeled tomatoes
• 1 large bunch basil, chopped (2-3 cups packed leaves)
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• juice of 1 lemon
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon green Tabasco (or your favourite hot sauce)
• 1/2 teaspoon horseradish
• 1 teaspoon Accent/MSG (optional)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup sherry (optional)*

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Chop the top off of the garlic head to expose the cloves.  Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper.  Wrap in aluminum foil.  On a baking sheet, toss the quartered tomatoes with the remaining olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place the garlic foil packet in the oven for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, add the baking sheet of tomatoes to the oven and roast for 45 minutes.  (The garlic will roast for 1 hour total.)  When cool enough to handle, squeeze the roasted garlic out of its paper right onto the roasted tomatoes and set aside until ready to use.


In a large stock pot, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil plus butter over a medium-high heat.  Add red onion, carrot, celery and red pepper flake.  Saute for about 10 minutes, until onion is translucent.  Stir in flour and cook an additional 5 minutes. 

Stir in the chicken stock and milk, using a whisk to break up any flour lumps.  Add the roasted tomatoes and roasted garlic, the canned tomatoes, basil, green onions, minced garlic, dried thyme, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, Tabasco, horseradish and Accent.  Bring to a boil, then turn down and simmer for about 40 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste, and stir in sherry right before serving.

*Note: I think this would probably be delicious and more true to a Bloody Mary is you used vodka instead of sherry... but we were out of vodka!