Soupruary 22nd: Provençal Tomato, Orange & Saffron

This warm weather must be going to my brain. This is some precisely unseasonable soup, y'all.


Location:
My apartment

Attendees:
Molly, Justine, Caleb, Bettina, Joel, Michael, LeAnne, Joshua, me


Menu:
Green lentil, pea & goat cheese salad
Mini grouchies with mozzarella and Parmigiano reggiano
Tomato, orange & saffron soup
Caramel and toffee cheesecake

Entertainment:
Wholly strange cartoons with delightful in-room commentary
The invention of a new half-valet parking service called Fetch
The leaving and the taking and the going and the getting: a conversation approximating a lost episode of Seinfeld

The Soup:
When I was doing my semester abroad at Oxford, one of my favorite things to eat (apart from late-nite chips, cheese & vinegar) was the 47p Tesco brand tomato & orange soup in a can. Ever since then I've looked for a recipe that might bring me back to those deliciously cheap memories...and I guess I have to keep looking.

Maybe I was too harsh a critic for this soup; maybe I had too high of expectations or was too full of anticipation. I guess it was fine. I'm entering the home stretch of Soupruary now, so I want everything to be a lot better than fine. I mean, everyone ate it and all, it just didn't taste how I wanted it to.

I have no doubt it would be better in the peak of tomato season, but I'll probably just keep seeking out that tomato and orange simplicity of the ol' Tesco and not try this one again.

Honestly, the more I do this, the more I think the fewer ingredients the better. If you can get great ingredients and then make them really sparkle, you can't find a more exciting taste. So here's to simplicity for the rest of the week. Perhaps. (Somebody hasn't set the menu yet.)

I tripled this recipe because I wasn't sure how many people were coming—I suppose that could also have something to do with throwing off the taste.

I promised myself I'd have a souper-positive attitude the rest of the week, so let's end this on a high note: The tiny pasta is SO CUTE OMG!

Adapted from Orangette

2 lb tomatoes
2 medium onions, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and thinly sliced (~2 cups)
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 (3- by 1-inch) ribbon of fresh orange zest, minced
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
¼ teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 ¾ cups water
¾ teaspoon salt, or to taste
Pinch crumbled saffron threads
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
¼ cup small soup pasta, such as acini di pepe
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
¼ cup finely chopped fresh basil

Boil about 5 quarts of water in a large, deep saucepan of water. After cutting a shallow X in the bottom of each tomato, blanch them at a steady boil for about 15 seconds each (no more than 2 or 3 at a time), then toss each one into a big bowl of ice water. Once they're all done, slip the skins off—this should be really easy—then core them and cut them in half. Squeeze the tomatoes over a sieve set over a bowl, getting all the seeds and pulp out. You can toss the tomatoes in the bowl under the sieve when you're done with them. When you've finished all the tomatoes, squish the seeds around on the sieve until you feel like you've extracted most of the juice, then thrown them away. Reserve the tomatoes and juice for later.

Heat olive oil over medium in your soup pot. Add the onions, carrot, celery, garlic, orange zest, thyme, red pepper flakes, fennel seeds, and bay leaf and cook for about 10 minutes (do not brown).

Add the tomatoes, juice, tomato paste, water, salt, saffron, and sugar. Simmer, uncovered, stirring and breaking up the tomatoes with a spoon occasionally, about 25-30 minutes. Here you can take a few whirls with an immersion blender if you're not happy with the consistency, but the tomatoes really do break down a lot during the simmering. Add the pasta and simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes or until pasta is cooked through. Discard the bay leaf and stir in the parsley and basil. Season to taste. Serve with grated Parmigiano reggiano if desired.