Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

Winter makes me crave warm and creamy soups.  Years ago I had a tomato soup recipe that required my time enslavement and then a wait period of simmer that by the time the first spoon went in my mouth I was so hungry that I scarfed the soup down without actually enjoying the taste. After experimenting with fresh tomatoes, and pomi tomatoes and all types of tomatoes, I found a recipe that calls for fire-roasted tomatoes that are full of flavor and that you can easily find canned, which helps the dish get made in under two hours and with little work. When I say two hours I mean put it on the stove and go do something else while it cooks a half hour here and a half hour there.   And the soup keeps great in the refrigerator as a leftover, although it’s so good that you might slurp it all up the same day.   For the cream part I have used Mimic Cream, a dairy-free, soy-free cream that is made from almonds and cashews and you can use it on most any recipe that calls for cream.  It is rich and smooth and I have yet to find someone who knows the difference between a dairy cream and this cream in any of my recipes.  There are a few Mimic Creams so buy the one that is unsweetened and not the coffee creamer.  I have seen Whole Foods sell this cream and then not.  You can always request that they carry it in your nearby natural food store.  I get my Mimic Cream online through amazon.  You can also buy it through Vegan Essentials.  If you can’t get your hands on Mimic Cream, you can substitute by using rice, almond or soy milk  (unsweetened).  Instead of using 1 teaspoon of rice flour that the recipe calls for, use 3 teaspoons and that will thicken things up.

cream of fire roasted tomato soup

• 3 cans of fire roasted tomatoes (each can is 14.5 ounces)
• 2 cups of mimic cream
• 5 cloves of garlic chopped small
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 teaspoons of non-dairy butter spread  (I use Earth Balance)
• 1 large onion chopped into small pieces
• 2 carrot sticks peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons of fresh or dried thyme chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon of rice flour
• 1 cup of micro greens, pea shoots or whatever greens you like to garnish
• 1/4 cup of sliced almonds, blanched or whole

In a 2- 4- quart pan place 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and non-dairy butter spread and  sautee the onions  over medium heat until translucent.   Add thyme and carrots and   sautee these for about 10 minutes until they are medium soft. Turn heat to low. Push aside onion and carrot mixture to one side of the pan and place remaining olive oil on the other and wait 30 seconds for oil to heat.  Add garlic to oil and stir for a minute and then combine with onions and carrots.  Add rice flour and stir together in the pan for another minute.  The mixture should look sticky.  Add tomatoes and stir everything together.  Add basil leaves and turn heat to medium until soup simmers.  Cover soup, turn heat to low again and cook for 40 minutes.   Add mimic cream and stir until it is well combined.  Cook another 10-15 minutes stirring regularly so that the cream does not separate. Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn heat off and let soup cool for 20-30 minutes.   With a hand-held blender or in a  blender, puree soup to a cream.  If you are using a standing blender you may want to puree in batches and then return soup to pan to warm.  Serve with garnishes on top.  Serves 4 as a main dish for a first course.