Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

Oh soup. That's really all I have to say.

But I guess you are looking for more than that, huh? Once the cool weather hits, it’s like a button is switched on and all I want is soup, soup and more soup. So comforting, so warming, it’s like a miracle cure for the blues, for a chill that you just can’t get rid of, or for an empty stomach just grumbling to be filled up. Suddenly my daily lunch of ham & cheese sandwich or homemade chef’s salad (complete with Shaun’s ham & cheese pinwheels that he often prepares for me...love ya honey!) just wasn’t cutting it. Soup it would need to be. So after a couple of weeks of picking up soup from local eateries, I realized that while it seemed like it was a small expense, it was adding up to around $5 per day (sometimes more like $7 at fancier places like Moomah). And since you know my feelings on spending mucho moola on food that I can easily DIY, I realized it was time to tackle the soup-for-lunch challenge. In the midst of post-dinner party clean up and game day relaxing, I got my soup on. And oh how happy I am that I did.

Since I had some nice tomatoes in the fridge and all of the other ingredients on hand, I decided that tomato soup it would be! And this version is low fat, filling and hearty to boot. Oh and did I mention that it gives my favorite tomato soup from ‘wichcraft a serious run for its money?

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
3 lbs tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped
2 large onions, roughly chopped
1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 14.5 oz cans low sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp heavy cream
olive oil
kosher salt
fresh black pepper
1/2 C fresh basil leaves
parmesean cheese

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Roughly chop the tomatoes and onions. Spread out on a foil-covered sheet pan (this will make clean up a snap!), drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast (this is the key to flavorful, delicious soup since roasting softens the veggies and brings out the yummy, carmelized flavors!).

Roast for about 25 minutes or until tomatoes and onions are soft, carmelized and smelling like heaven. Add them to a big stock pot or dutch oven. 

Pour in the chicken broth, crushed tomatoes and whole peeled tomatoes (I always use Red Pack, unless grocer gives me another brand when I lazily order my groceries!). Stir in the bay leaves and butter. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, chop up the basil. I grabbed the last bit of leaves from our urban herb garden, which has recently been moved indoors. No word on how long that will last!

 

Add to the soup. After the 20-30 minutes has elapsed, it's time to blend the soup together. I use my handy immersion blender (a tool that I have come to obsess over) but using a blender or food processor to blend in batches should work as well.

Stir in the heavy cream (use as much as you'd like or omit altogether to keep it lower in fat). When serving, stir in a bit of parmesean cheese. Since I used up all of my basil, I garnished with a sprig of parsley that I had recently purchased for my upcoming Thanksgiving dinner (stay tuned for lots of Turkey Day recipes!)

So there you have it. A delicious and comforting bowl of soup. This recipe made a giant batch, which is perfect for a family, spreading over a week's time or even freezing to use throughout the winter! I also like my soup chunky so I didn't completely blend it through, though I'm sure it would be equally as delightful. Oh and to bring it to work, I simply load it up in an air tight container, keep it upright on my commute and heat in the microwave for lunch. Voila! Homemade, comforting soup! All that's missing is a giant, buttery grilled cheese sandwich...

So the question of the day is: What is your favorite food or beverage to warm you up on a cool day? Is it a bowl of soup? A hearty chili? A sweet mug of hot chocolate? Or maybe a simple chai tea?

Midtown lunch at Rickshaw Dumpling Bar

Though my day job requires that I spend my days in TriBeCa, a couple of weeks ago I found myself at a Midtown meeting. And anyone whose ever spent anytime in Midtown knows that lunch options are sparse. Aside from the salad bar bodegas, its pretty slim pickins. So you can imagine my excitement when a co-worker introduced me to Rickshaw Dumpling Bar, a fast food - Chinese take out hybrid located on 23rd between 5th & 6th Ave. Since dumplings are one of my favorite aspects of Asian cuisine, I was pretty over the moon about the new lunch find. Not to mention the fact that affordable TriBeCa lunch options are also pretty sparing and a girl can only have so many tomato soups and grilled cheese sandwiches a la 'wichcraft (ok, I'll be honest, I pretty much OD'd on this lunch combo during the cooler months, so anything new came as a refreshing change). Let's just say that if Rickshaw were closer to my place of employment, I'd be a frequent lunchtime visitor. Since I'm a sampler, it was quite enjoyable that I found two lunch companions with a penchant for sharing...and sampling.

The carnivorous and pork-deprived eater that I am gravitated directly to the Classic Pork dumplings. In my personal opinion, Asian food is really best when it features pork. Take the classics - moo shu, lo mein, dumplings - they're just not the same with chicken. Anyhow, I got myself an order of pork dumplings that did not disappoint.

My oh-so-generous colleagues offered up a taste of theirs and who was I to turn it down? That is, after all, how I got to sample the Peking Duck dumpling. I should interject here and tell you that I typically do not eat duck (and Shaun winces as I tell you this, since he and my sister Kim enjoyed what they refer to as the best meal of their lives when we traveled in Budapest with duck as the major star...but I digress...). It's a bit greasy for my taste, and this dumpling was no different. It was, however, rather tasty. And while I probably wouldn't order it on my own, if you like duck, you would probably like this little guy.

And for all of you vegetarians out there, we also sampled the Vegetarian Edamame dumpling. It was a fun twist on an Asian favorite. Would I substitute the pork variety for the edamame? No way, Jose. But for a vegetarian option? I'll take it. And no, it in no way comes remotely close to the wonder of the Land vegetable dumpling - yep, the ones that I claim changed my life and love so unconditionally that I even made a vid about 'em.

Lastly (and no, I usually do not eat this much for lunch, but when in Midtown...), I sampled the Chocolate Shanghai Soup Dumpling. This one was eaten with caution my friends. Filled with dark, liquidy chocolate, could you just imagine this thing exploding all over your clothes? Yeah, I've had nightmares about it. But it is pretty darn delightful and truly unique to boot.

So there you have it...a tale of my Midtown lunch. This is the only city locale, though I've heard stories of a Rickshaw Dumpling truck traveling around lower Manhattan. I haven't investigated this myself, but any info you could share would be greatly appreciated! But how about you...what do you eat for lunch at work? Any local faves? Any places that you wish were a smidge closer to the office?

Gray's Papaya dogs just can't be beat

Spring is a budding, and if there's one thing that I absolutely love about New York in the spring, it's the abundance of hot dogs (and some baseball too). And if you aren't doing the Dirty Water Dog (read: hot dogs from  street vendors which spend their days sitting in hot - and very highly likely dirty - water. Hey, I'm not judging...) or the ballpark dog, really the only other way to go is the Gray's Papaya dog.

A New York City staple, Gray's Papaya can be found in multiple locations around Manhattan and are open around the clock. Hot dogs are all they do and they do it well. If you know what's good, you'll get 'em fully loaded - saurkraut and relish with a little mustard.

And if you're going Gray's, you must be going Recession Special style - $3.25 for two dogs and a 14oz drink. Oh, and I should mention that really the only acceptable drink in this scenario is the papaya "drink". It's creamy and anything but of the diet variety, but when you're eating two hot dogs covered in salty saurkraut, relish and mustard, is a diet drink really necessary?

Grilled to perfection on a huge griddle, these dogs are juicy and wonderful. And I mean, really, can you beat this deal anywhere else in the city? Especially when they look good enough to eat, as they do pictured on the right.

Adding to the fun is that there are absolutely no seats at Gray's. Besides some super small silver countertops on which you can lean, you're pretty much forced to find the nearest park bench for your chowfest. And I'm not complaining. It's been the home of quick lunches, the best hot dog in New York, and even some movie sets (You've Got Mail) and in my opinion, fantastic New York City eats.

So there it is...a simple and delicious lunch in Manhattan for under $4.00. Can you beat it? But what I really want to know is...how do you take your dog? At backyard barbeques only? Covered in ketchup? Boiled on a stovetop? Do tell!