You Say Tomahhh-toe, I Say Sous Vide Tomato Soup

Super duper yummy and oh so fun and easy. Yep, another awesome idea I got from my Anovo app that comes with my sous vide thingy... I have no idea what to really call it. Is it a device? A utensil? An appliance? Yes, probably an appliance as it's too specialized and expensive for a mere gadget. But oh how I do love it.

I happen to have a FoodSaver vacuum sealer which I've had for years and now, combined with this new BMW of kitchen toys, I can easily prepare plan ahead, as well as cook ahead meals.

One of my favorite quick meals happens to be tomato soup, with or without a scrumptious grilled cheese sandwich.  We are a family of soup lovers and this happens to be a favorite for many reasons. For one, it makes use of one of my all time favorite ingredients: the humble garden tomato.

For another, I can prep several meals at once and even cook them all at once, which I have found is the best way to do it. Once cooked, they will easily freeze in their vacuumed sous vide bags until ready to use.

On this particular sous vide night, I made two batches of tomato soup and a couple of servings of rosemary balsamic poached tomato confit (peeled and poached). The poached tomatoes I will serve as a side or even Caprese salad.

But as you can see, both recipes are pretty simple so why not make a couple of batches?

By the looks of it, seems I also made some poached vanilla, cinnamon and rum spiced apples and pears. Oh yea, fun was had by all.

For the tomato soup:

3-5 lbs of tomatoes, quartered

5-6 cloves of garlic

3 stems of basil

2-3 tbsp of olive oil

salt, pepper to taste (you can wait and season once it's finished)

Finish with heavy cream and parmesan, if you like

Sous Vide on 140 degrees F for 40 minutes.

Once the sous vide cycle completes, either refrigerate, freeze or prepare. 

To prepare, I usually blend this in a blender or use my immersion blender after dumping all the contents in a deep pot. I almost feel guilty posting this because it feels like the ultimate guilty kitchen pleasure, like some sort of high-end tv dinner. Awesome, right? It really is. But really, serve it how you normally would, a good splash of heavy cream, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, parmesan, homemade garlic croutons or all of the above, paired with a smoked gouda with caramelized onions  toasted sandwich... whatever floats your tomato soup boat.

Such a beautiful way to use up the summer abundance of heirloom beefsteak tomatoes.

Best part is it will keep in the sous vide bath almost indefinitely without overcooking so if serving more than a few warm, loving bodies, then it's the perfect culinary taskmaster for a super busy bee like me. And did I mention, it can cook many things at once? As long as the temperature suits everything you are cooking together, then it will work perfectly.

I did the poached apples and pears, which are more for the adults and a separate non-Rum soaked version for the underage in our party. These, we served with caramel and homemade cinnamon ice cream later after dinner.

Dinner and dessert, anyone?

Rockin' Fresh Radish Sprouts!

So I can get super crazy gushy over fresh sprouts. I mean, I can literally have a couple of sprout trays going at any given time. But when you grow fresh sprouts, you can prepare batches over the course of a few days or all at once, to ensure a stable and consistent supply of sprouts for the family that will last at least a week. Depending on how crazy your family is about sprouts. Mine, eh, not as much as I, but then again, it's a bit of a food-scientist, self-sustaining hobby for me; growing your own food isn't something most people think about on a daily basis. But I do. :)

That's why I usually keep my gardening style posts for RoofGrown, but I find this topic sorta belongs right here, too.

I mean, growing sprouts can actually fulfill two passions at once in that you are growing for near-immediate consumption something that you might pay a pretty penny for in an organic grocery store and the instant gratification comes with the added bonus that you know what you are eating and can do it organically for next to nothing. For the whole family. No shortage of fresh greens when you can do the same with baby lettuces, broccoli, mung bean, all manner of peas and herbs, as well as onions.

Instead of paying a pretty penny, why not do it yourself for pennies? For one, one of the easiest sprouts in the world to grow are radish sprouts and they also tend to be one of the quickest to sprout. A handful of sprouts on a sandwich or salad cannot be beat as it still adds the same type of radish heat from fully grown radishes but in a compact form of a nutritious sprout.

A half tablespoon of radish seeds or less will yield an entire litre size container of fresh radish sprouts that are grown so compactly together that you can "harvest" sprouts right out of the batch while the others continue to grow, filling in the space you just harvested with new sprouts.

I buy organic sprout seeds from Amazon. There are a lot of great options for purchasing seeds for sprouting online. I also get them from my favorite seed catalogs if I see a good deal.

Some of my favorites:
Mix baby lettuces
Radish
Split peas
Mung beans
Fenugreek
Alfalfa
Onions
Kale
Sunflower
Wheat

Since I began growing sprouts, I've experimented with various sprouting gadgets and devices. My all time favorite depends on what type of sprout I'm growing. For everyday use and single batches, I have two of the cup sprouters I bought a zillion years ago on Amazon.  And for larger seeds or multiple batches of wheat grass, mung or sunflower, I will always opt for my FreshLife sprouter.