Thread by @danielmkim

I wasn’t planning to do #CookingForLieutenants threads 2 days in a row, but 🤷🏻‍♂️

Junior’s grandmother dropped off tomatoes from her garden, & the kid loves tomato soup, so the decision was already made for me.

2. This only takes about 45 minutes total, with a minimum of prep. You can substitute 1 or 2 large (aka # 10) cans of crushed tomatoes, but thanks to his 할머니 (Halmoni / grandmother), we had about 5 # of organic fresh tomatoes straight from her backyard.

3. I lopped off the top of each tomato, cut out any green pith under the stem, cut them in half vertically, then each half into 3 or 4 wedges. I placed them on a sheet tray with 2 roughly chopped onions.

4. Next came the herbs - fresh, unlike most times I use herbs, because the fresh tomatoes demanded fresh herbs. In this case, thyme & rosemary. I stripped the leaves from 3 rosemary sprigs & 5 thyme sprigs, & gave them a quick chop.

5. Thinly slice 5+ garlic cloves. Spread the garlic & chopped herbs over the top of your tomatoes. Drizzle EVOO or grapeseed oil, depending on your personal taste. Season liberally with salt & pepper. Roast at 425°F until the tomatoes begin to shrivel & char, about 25 minutes.

6. Warm up about 1 pint of chicken stock to a simmer, then remove the stock from heat. When you remove the tomatoes from the oven, they should look like this & your kitchen should smell like a Tuscan farmhouse.

7. 2 ways to purée this. You could dump the sheet tray’s contents into your pot of warm stock & use a hand blender. Or, if you’re like me & don’t own one, pour veg & warm stock into your blender cup, then pour the purée into the pot. Either way, this is the desired result.

8. Tomatoes are acidic, so you’ll now need to add sugar to offset the acid. You could use agave syrup if you’re worried about sugar. Just add a little, stir, then taste. Repeat. Add salt if necessary. You’ll know when it’s right.

9. You could add milk or heavy cream at this point, but if you puréed everything finely enough, why bother unless you want the added fat content? Bring the pot to a boil, then turn off the heat. Your soup is ready, but like Goldilocks said, it’s too hot.

10. While your soup cools to just right, you can make simple garlic bread to dip into the soup. I cut sections of baguette, toasted them, slathered them with butter, salt, & garlic powder, then put them back in the toaster oven for a minute. Voilá.

11. Always make sure that your sous-chef/photographer/factotum approves.

12. You may now reward yourself with an adult beverage for your efforts. Or, since it’s my Sunday, another adult beverage.

Here endeth the lesson.