ROASTED TOMATO & CASHEW SOUP

Roasted Tomato & Cashew Soup

This soup is what happens when I pick up a bag of sweet little tomatoes from the Farmers Market. The pre-roasting of the tomatoes sweetens and intensifies the flavour. It is delicious eaten hot or even chilled on one of these hot and sticky evenings of late.

Ingredients

  • 800 g ripe tomatoes or equivalent canned
  • salt & pepper
  • 1/2 cup raw cashews
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 2 cloves garlic chopped
  • 1 cup homemade chicken or vegetable stock
  • splash of cider vinegar
  • basil leaves to garnish

Instructions

  • Preheat oven 180C. Cut the tomatoes into similar sized pieces and layer in a baking dish. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 20 minutes until sweet and fragrant.
  • Place the cashews in a small jug and cover with boiling water to soften.
  • Meanwhile heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a low heat. Add the onions and sauté gently for 10 minutes until translucent, keep the heat low so they don't colour.
  • Once the tomatoes are ready add them to the onions along with the spices, garlic and stock. Drain the cashews and add to the soup. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and use a stick blender to puree until smooth.
  • Reheat, check seasoning and add a splash of cider vinegar to taste. Serve hot or cold garnished with little basil leaves.

Luckily others were more successful. And it is times like this I feel ever grateful to have amazing seasonal produce at out fingertips. Although I would love to grow the bulk of our food. Even when I have the best of intentions by planting what I think will be enough for our family. Nature constantly reminds how little control we have, which can be quite disheartening in this modern world where there are apps to measure our heart beat and number of steps we take each day.

My tomato plants have been rather disappointing this year. I am not sure why considering we have had long hot days so essential for these heat loving solanaceae. I thought I had it all perfectly planned for success, I planted them in a different location from last year, spaced them 1 metre apart, transplanted healthy seedlings the weekend before Labour day. It was all looking good early in the season, the plants were watered, feed, staked and tied, laterals trimmed… all the TLC a tomato needs. Maybe we didn’t water enough when they needed it, maybe we watered too much. The truth is we will never know the reason why our tomato crop of 2015 was not a success.

I mean, why did our apricot tree produce twice the amount of fruit it did last year? Or what about those amazing peas in November that for the first time made it beyond the garden steps and into the kitchen. I would love to confidently know what I did so I can repeat this for seasons to come, but I actually have no idea. Maybe next year we will have no apricots – it does happen – and the tomatoes will be a bumper crop. Luckily this year, for where the tomatoes lack, our fruit trees continue to produce. The pantry is already heaving at the sides with 75 jars of preserved fruit and counting.

Tomato & Cashew Soup | HOMEGROWN KITCHEN

Tomato & Cashew Soup | HOMEGROWN KITCHEN

Tomato & Cashew Soup | HOMEGROWN KITCHEN

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  1. The soup sounds delicious – for how many please?

    1. Hi Inga, thanks for checking. It serves 4. I will make a note on the recipe now.

  2. I love a good tomato soup I’ll be sure to make this. Thanks for an another amazing recipe Mx

    1. Thanks Madeleine, I think you would like this one!

  3. This sounds delicious! Would it be suitable to freeze?

    1. H Megan, yes absolutely. Would be a fantastic soup to have in the freezer. Enjoy!

  4. We had the same thing with our tomatoes this year. The plants are immense and very healthy but there weren’t nearly as many tomatoes as we have had previously and they seem to be taking FOREVER to ripen. We planted them at the same time as you and we have only just picked our first three tomatoes as the rest are still green. Very strange. And it seems to be the trend with other people we know. Oh well. Perhaps we should plant an apricot tree 😉
    This soup looks lovely and I cannot wait to make it. My son is a huge fan of homemade tomato soup. He will be stoked.

    1. Yes sounds just like ours. Although we have been picking tomatoes for sometime no where as many as usual and one plant is still very green! I am hoping this warm weather of late will hurry them along before autumn truly arrives.
      I highly recommend an apricot tree. Ours is probably 40 years old and looks crazy gnarly, but being a heirloom variety the flavour is something amazing!

  5. This soup is soup-er delicious – thanks so much Nicola!
    If I lived closer I’d grow your food in trade for delicious dinners, but sadly am too far away 🙁 , so instead here’s my top 3 tips for tomatoes (hope there’s something new here to help next years crop). Don’t be in a hurry to plant them out – wait until the nights are consistently warm and the soil is at least 15 degrees (when the scarlet runners start to sprout). For me this year that meant December, yikes!, and even though it meant cropping didn’t begin in earnest till late January – it’s better to wait than for them to struggle through the ups and downs of spring and crop badly. Variety has a lot to do with it too, local gardeners are a great help to find varieties that do well in your climate no matter what the weather does – for me that’s Russian Red, Island Bay Italian and Dr Walters. Finally grow them after broadbeans, using the broadbeans as mulch for the tomatoes. Hope this helps! Happy gardening, Kath

    1. Wow thanks Kath! For all that amazing info about growing tomatoes. So it looks like I have been planting them out way too early! We don’t get a lot of sun hours in our valley although it does get warm in summer. We have a community gardens just up the road where I used to volunteer [before children] so will have a chat with the gardeners to see what varieties grow well in this area.
      If I lived closer I would be very happy to swap meals for produce!
      Hopefully we get to meet in person on of these days 🙂

  6. Oh boy, this soup is amazing! I bought up large at the market to slow-roast some tomatoes for bottling but I have a tendency to get side-tracked and I’m so glad I did – this soup is SO delicious! We licked the bowls clean. I’ll be back at the markets at the weekend for more tomatoes ;-). Thanks Nicola!

    1. I know all about getting distracted in the kitchen Caren! It is the perfect weather for soup too, enjoy 🙂

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