Tomato basil feta soup and fresh tomato sauce

 

Why mess with a sure thing? Maybe because at least in the kitchen, there's always the possibility that a slightly better version is possible, even if it's not really necessary because the first version is just dandy. This approach clearly should not apply in relationships or investments, but can sometimes pay dividends in the culinary realm.

So when transforming yet another tray of farmers market tomatoes into what has essentially become a house soup that I pull out of the freezer as needed throughout the winter, it occurred to me to try swapping the usual canned tomato sauce in the recipe for a possibly more elevated version, one that is marinated rather than cooked.

Christos tomato-basil soup with feta

This recipe from the Christos Greek restaurant in Minneapolis was published in the Star Tribune in 1997, as provided by Gus Parpas and executive chef at the time, Mohamed Armeli. This appeared as part of a reader request feature the Taste section used to run, reaching out to restaurants on behalf of a reader query for a recipe for a favorite dish. (I would link to it, but it's not on the Strib site.) Christos is an Eat Street mainstay, opening in 1988 and surviving COVID closures and ICE mayhem. I see the soup still shows up on at least some daily special menus there. It's been awhile since I've been there, so I can't vouch for how faithful this is to the original; I know sometimes chefs needed to modify a recipe they supplied for practical home use.

I have long since deviated slightly from the original, which I am presenting as first reported, and will note that where applicable. For one thing, seeding tomatoes is just not anything I feel moved to do, but if they bother you, by all means knock yourself out. (I also generally don't peel tomatoes in most recipes, but in this one, you'll be happier if you do; otherwise you might want to pass the soup through a food mill or sieve after pureeing it.)

I also have two different approaches to this, depending on whether I'm making it to serve immediately, in which case I more or less follow the original, or whether I'm making this in peak fresh tomato season to freeze to pull out in winter to pair with panini, toasted cheese sandwiches or other warm comfort food. I find that avoiding basil and feta in the frozen soup base and adding it later yields better results in that case. I'll note the "freezer" method after the original.

Ingredients

¼ cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
½ teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
3 cloves garlic, chopped
5 to 6 ripe tomatoes, cored, peeled, seeded and diced
3 cups chicken stock
½ cup fresh basil, chopped (or 3 generous stems, if using freezer approach), plus more for optional garnish
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 cups tomato sauce
Black pepper to taste

Method

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Add onions and cook until translucent. Stir in salt. Add bay leaf and garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Add tomatoes and stock, bringing to a boil and cooking over high heat for 20 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and remove bay leaf. When slightly cooled, puree in a blender or food processor until smooth. You might need to do this in batches, depending on the size of your blender or processor. Pour soup back into saucepan and stir in basil, feta, tomato sauce and black pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes. Makes 6 servings.

Method for freezing

When adding the tomatoes and stock, add the basil stems at the same time. Remove them when you remove the bay leaf before pureeing. (This infuses the soup with the basil flavor up front but keeps the basil from darkening while frozen.) After pureeing the soup and returning it to the pan, stir in tomato sauce and heat through. Remove from heat, cool, and store in preferred serving sizes. When ready to use, thaw the soup, add feta and reheat. Serve garnished with sliced basil. (If I'm feeling time-pressed, sometimes I'll just add feta crumbles to individual soup bowls, top with warm soup and then the basil garnish; still tasty, but less creamy.)

Rating: However you choose to make it, there's a reason this is more or less our house soup. It's just smooth and creamy comfort, and pairs well with so many dishes. Only downside: If you get used to this, the canned tomato soup is just such a devastating disappointment.

Fresh tomato sauce

From "Olive Oil: Fresh Recipes from Leading Chefs" from Periplus Editions. This recipe was designed to swirl around the base when plating an elaborate dish that would no doubt be spectacular but would also definitely set you back several hours cooking prep time and even more doing the dishes. Maybe some day. It can be hard to psych yourself up for so much effort for one dish when you could make three quite nice meals in the same amount of time. One suspects a kitchen staff would help overcome that. Makes about a quart.

Ingredients

10 ripe plum tomatoes, diced
½ cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1 red pepper, diced
½ red chile
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup tomato juice
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 to 2 teaspoons fresh basil 

Method

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10 to 12 hours. Puree mixture and pass through a fine sieve. At this point you can stir in a bit more olive oil if desired.

Rating: As a tomato sauce, very fresh tasting. You definitely get the pepper and cucumber flavors coming through. If you're in the market for something with more flavor than a canned tomato sauce, it has some merit, and you can make this one ahead. I think it would be very nice with fish.

But as for using it the soup above, well, it was noticeable, but I would say it neither enhanced or detracted from the usual flavor overall, just made it different, so I'm sticking with opening the convenient can when it comes to this use case. So now I'm more certain about the sure thing.

Appetizers, but for lunch

I'm a sucker for a good appetizer, and think cocktails/wine and app parties are one of the very nice parts about being a grown up because you get to decide what to eat and when. But there are only so many of those parties to go around, and making a supper array of appetizers just for two people can seem like a lot of work and generate a lot of leftovers and preparation dishes that make it seem less fun.

So if I want to try out a new appetizer recipe ahead of one of those parties, I find making one for a weekend lunch to be a good alternative. Paired with a soup and fruit, one appetizer can be the star of the show.

Smoked salmon cheesecake

This no-bake cheesecake-ish recipe is from Kateryna's Cafe site. It called for a six-inch springform pan, which I don't own, so I opted for using two 4½-inch tartlet pans with a removeable bottom. Because the volume isn't the same between the two, I ended up with two tartlets of lower height, but they still looked reasonably looky paired on a plate with crackers. I considered making them in six of my mini cheesecake pans, but didn't feel like fussing that much, although I think it would make a dandy one-serving first course for a sit-down dinner situation.

Ingredients

2 ounces Ritz crackers (or use Schar's entertainment crackers if you want to make it gluten free)
1 large handful arugula
1 teaspoon olive oil
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 ounces smoked salmon, divided
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
Zest of ½ lemon
Fresh dill for garnish

Method

Blend crackers, arugula and olive oil in a food processor until finely chopped. Press mixture into the bottom of your pan or pans, depending on available pan size (see headnote). 

Combine cream cheese, 2 ounces of smoked salmon, the chives and lemon zest. Spread over the crust. Refrigerate until lightly set. I gave it several hours since I was making it well ahead, but the recipe said to allow at least 15 minutes. Remove from pan and top with remaining 2 ounces smoked salmon and garnish with fresh dill.

Rating: Fine. It's fast to fix and reasonably looky on a plate. It's not the wower I expected based on its ingredient list, however. As I say, it's fine, but just fine. Maybe some finely chopped red onion in the cream cheese mixture would help, or maybe shallots? The zest of the entire lemon? I feel like it's just a nudge away from living up to its looks.

Baked ricotta with tomatoes

Adapted from "Vegetarian Heartland" by Shelly Westerhausen

Ingredients

1 pound ricotta
1 teaspoon honey
1 egg
3 garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, divided
Zest of 1 lemon
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
5 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tablespoon butter

Method

Preheat oven to 400. Grease a 9-inch round pie plate or dish.

Combine ricotta, honey, egg, garlic, 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Spread mixture in prepared dish. Push tomatoes into the mixture, cut side down. (Arranging them in concentric circles would make it prettier than the randomness I achieved the first time I made it.) Bake for 30 minutes, then top with the butter, tilting the pan to distribute it once it melts. Bake for 10 more minutes. Garnish with remaining 1 teaspoon thyme leaves and a bit more pepper.  Serve warm.

Rating: The first time I made this, it was fine, but blander than I might have expected. I barely detected the garlic, so I tried it again and tripled the amount of garlic. I wanted this to be a winner because it's so fast and comparatively pantry friendly. I also added the zest of a lemon the second time. There was a reference I didn't pick up on until later because it's in neither the ingredient list or instructions in the original recipe, but the note on top of the recipe recommends using an organic lemon for the otherwise unmentioned zest, and adding it made a significant difference. 

Tuna mousse

From Food & Wine magazine's 2001 cookbook

Ingredients

1 6-ounce can tuna packed in olive oil, drained
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons cream cheese, room temperature
1½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Sliced toasted baguette for serving

Method

Combine tuna, mayo, onion, cream cheese and lemon juice in a food processor. Pulse until smooth. Add parsley and pulse to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Serve on toasted baguette slices.

Rating: This is why I generally aim to try new recipes in advance of giving them to guests, just in case there's a dud. This works flavorwise, but while it sets up a tiny bit in the refrigerator, it never reaches a consistency I would call a mousse. As Dave said, it's more of a tuna sauce. I opted to turn the rest of it into the sauce for a tuna noodle casserole and call it a day, because I don't think this one is worth trying to finesse. It's a pity, because I really wanted to like this. When Dave asked what I was making and I told him tuna mousse, he said that sounded like an odd animal combination and went away muttering something about fish with antlers. I think fish with antlers would have been a charming nickname for an appetizer, but alas, it's not to be.

Crabbies

From "The Healthy Carb Diabetes Cookbook," by Jennifer Bucko and Laura Rondinelli, a book I picked up when a family member was diagnosed so I could more carefully cater appropriate options.

Ingredients

1 8-ounce can lump crab meat
1 8-ounce container lite cream cheese with chives and onions
5 whole wheat English muffins, halved

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine crab meat and cream cheese. Spread mixture over open face English muffin halves. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Slice each half into quarters if you want to serve them as appetizers. They're figuring two of those quarters a person as a serving for a total of 7 carbs.

Rating: It's certainly very fast to make. Flavorwise, it's reasonably tasty and if you have one un-quartered open-faced English muffin as lunch along with a bowl of soup and fruit, probably still not too horrible dietwise for those of us who aren't slavishly carb-watching. But while cutting it into quarters makes it more diet-friendly, it also makes it unappetizing on a plate. Small appetizers can be cute, but these are just ragged looking, I can imagine a plate full of these things sitting among an array of appetizers on a table and being the ones no one tried, becoming more sad as they cooled. (I do think they were best served warm.) I suppose if I added some chopped chives as a garnish it might help, but again, I think I'm not thinking this one is worth trying to finesse, especially given the price of a can of crab meat.

Leftovers: Since I wasn't about to bake off all five muffins, we have leftovers. I'm thinking it could make a good stand-in as a base for a crab meat rangoon pizza, which would be tasty, but definitely not as diet friendly.