Creamy roasted tomato soup with tender white beans and basil pistou.
This vegan summer soup is creamy without adding cream and is tasty served warm or chilled.
Pistou is a French sauce made by grinding basil, garlic, and olive oil into a paste with a mortar and pestle. I took a slight detour from tradition with this recipe, using a food processor and swapping the garlic for shallots. The result was still light and herbaceous, a perfect pairing for the rich roasted tomato soup.
I wanted to keep this soup vegan, so I used a homemade roasted vegetable stock as the liquid base. Roasting the veggies adds depth of flavor and sweetness to the stock. To make the stock, rough chop equal parts of carrots, celery, and onion. Place them on a sheet pan with a few garlic cloves and toss with oil. Roast the veggies at 400 degrees until slightly browned and tender. Place them in a pot filled with water, add peppercorns, thyme, and bay leaf. Simmer the stock for 1 1/2-2 hours. Strain off the vegetables, and the liquid is ready to use. Store-bought vegetable stock can be substituted, but water will not have enough flavor if used.
Canned or fresh cooked white beans can be used for this recipe. If using canned, rinse the beans thoroughly before mixing with the pistou.
Roasted Tomato Soup with White Bean Pistou
Ingredients
Soup
- 8 each tomatoes medium size quartered
- 2 tsp garlic minced
- 1 tsp oregano chopped
- 1 tsp thyme chopped
- 1/2 each onion rough chopped 1 cup
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 3 cups roasted vegetable stock
- salt and pepper to taste
Pistou
- 1 cup basil leaves more for garnish
- 1/2 each shallot minced
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 cup white beans cooked
Instructions
Soup
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment. Place the quartered tomatoes and onions on the pan. Sprinkle with the salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, garlic, and oil. Mix everything together to evenly coat the tomatoes and onions. Arange the tomatoes skin side down and roast in the oven for 2 hours, rotating halfway through.
- Add the tomatoes and the vegetable stock to a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes. Pour the tomato and stock mixture into a blender and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour the soup into 4 bowls. Garnish with bean pistou and fresh basil leaves.
Pistou
- Place the basil in the bowl of a food processor and chop until fine. Stir in the oil, salt, pepper, shallots, and lemon juice. When ready to serve the soup mix the pistou with the white beans and taste for seasoning. Divide the beans between the 4 soup bowls and serve immediately.
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