Backyard Garden to Table with Heibel Ranch Vineyards

Posted on December 2, 2022 by drinkinlife

Backyard Garden Roasted Tomato Soup

Each year we grow a number of different tomato varieties in all colors, I am particularly fond of the yellow and orange tomatoes and they typically take up a good part of the tomato growing space. For this recipe the tomatoes, celery, sweet bell peppers, garlic, onion and basil all came from the backyard garden. I typically grow carrots in the spring, but this year carrots were not planted until later for a fall/winter harvest so I used store bought carrots.

I roast everything for this recipe, tomatoes, onions, sweet bell peppers, carrots and garlic. This increases the cooking time involved but the vegetables reward you with more intense flavors. I even take the time to core and de-seed the tomatoes before roasting, but this is not a step that needs to be done since the soup will be puréed. Also, I separate the onions, garlic and carrots from the tomatoes and red peppers on the baking tray to allow the removal of the softer vegetables since they tend to cook faster.

I prepared my Backyard Garden Roasted Tomato Soup to pair with the GBH Cabernet Sauvingon from Heibel Ranch Vineyards. This is a bold wine that needed a flavorful soup to harmonize with, not a problem when you are working with garden fresh vegetables.

“The smells of slow cooking spread around the house and impart a unique warmth matched only by the flavour of the food.”
Yotam Ottolenghi

If time allows, I like to follow a slow cooking method of preparing our meals, giving flavors more time to mingle and intertwine. It is possible to make this soup in under thirty minutes, but once everything is in the pot I like to let the ingredients get to know each other, find out what they have in common and then work together to create something that keeps drawing you back spoonful by spoonful.

I think that we can all agree that Tomato Soup needs to be accompanied by a grilled cheese sandwich. Dunking the grilled cheese into the soup is a must in our house. Wanting to keep the bold flavors up to par with the Cabernet Sauvignon I made a sun dried tomato pesto to add to the grilled cheese sandwich and then cut the sandwich into bit size dippers.

“Grilled cheese and tomato soup is the ultimate comfort meal.”
Ina Garten

To make the Sun Dried Tomato Pesto for the Grilled Cheese dippers you can use the recipe Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto recipe found on Once Upon a Chef’s Blog or you can purchase premade jar sun dried pesto.

This soup can be made with produce from the Farmer’s Market all year long if you don’t have time to grow your own vegetables. I would encourage you to take the extra step and buy the ingredients from a Farmer’s Market instead of your local grocery store, the impactful flavors of locally grown small farm produce will make all of the difference in the outcome of the Roasted Tomato Soup.

Backyard Garden Roasted Tomato Soup

This recipe was inspired by Chef Tyler Florence's Roasted Tomato Soup recipe that I tweaked and changed until I found a soup that made my family say "Is there any of that delicious Tomato Soup left?" Quantities of the main produce can be changed to create a soup that fits your taste and to make this your families favorite soup too.

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Ingredients

2½ pounds fresh tomatoes (can be a mix of fresh heirlooms, vine and plum tomatoes)
1 sweet red bell pepper, deseeded and cut into large slices to roast skins.
6 peeled cloves of garlic
1 large sweet onions, sliced
2 large carrots, cubed or cut into slices
¼ cup roasted garlic olive oil to drizzle over onions, garlic and carrots.
dash of salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 quart chicken stock
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp butter
½ fresh basil leaves, chopped
½-¾ cup heavy cream
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Wash, core and cut the tomatoes into halves, if desired take the time to deseed the tomatoes. Line your largest baking tray with foil. Spread the tomatoes and red peppers on one half and the onion rings with garlic cloves in the center along with the carrots on the other half of the baking tray. (Doing this allows you to remove the onions, garlic and carrots that will roast quicker than the tomatoes and red pepper).
3. Drizzle with 1/4 cup of roasted garlic olive oil over the onions, garlic and carrots and season with salt and pepper.
4. Roast for 20 to 30 minutes, or until skins of tomatoes and red pepper is blackened. Keep an eye on your onions, garlic and carrots and remove them first if they start to get too blackened, then return the tomatoes and red pepper to the oven until they're roasted.
5. When roasted tomatoes and red peppers are removed from the oven allow the tomatoes to cool for a couple of minutes and then pull off the skins. cover the red pepper with a damp paper towel and then remove the skins. Leaving small speckles of charred skin is optional for flavor.
6. Transfer all roasted vegetables to a large stock pot, add bay leaves and simmer on medium-low for 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock, onion powder, garlic powder and butter. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until liquid has reduced by a third.
7. Add basil leaves to the pot. Remove the bay leaves before using an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth. Add cream, season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Simmer on low for 10 minutes.
Garnish with fresh basil leaves.

Another recommendation would be to double, triple or quadruple the recipe and divide the finished soup into lunch and dinner serving sizes to freeze. There is only a small amount of heavy cream in this recipe and the soup freezes beautifully.

Just imagine taking this Backyard Garden Roasted Tomato soup out of the freezer and enjoying it in February as you watch the snow fall while sipping on a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.

GBH Cabernet Sauvignon from Heibel Ranch Vineyards….

Wines are meant to bring out the nuances in food and vice-versa, so your most successful wine pairing will not only enhance the dining experience, they will also hopefully heighten flavors, textures and qualities in the food. All of these benefits were achieved when I paired the Roasted Tomato Soup with a GBH Cabernet Sauvignon from California Winery, Heibel Ranch Vineyards.

On the label of GBH (smartly dressed in his chef outfit) is George Bennet Heibel, the man who Heibel Ranch Vineyards pays tribute to with their signature Cabernet Sauvignon, which was first produced in 2008. This silhouette of George from a 1936 photo was taken when he was a chef at the Women’s City Club in San Francisco.

As the core for this 2017 vintage, three barrels were selected and aged for nearly three years in 50% new French oak. Elegantly layered with rich flavors the blend is comprised of 97% Cabernet Sauvignon & 3% Petite Sirah and I really enjoyed how the small percentage of Petitie Sirah added notes of plum, blueberry, and black tea.

I felt that Winemaker Trent Ghiringhelli’s tasting notes were spot on for this wine so I am sharing them here:

“2017 GBH ~ Cabernet Sauvignon
An opaque garnet hue is complimented
with enticing aromas of mixed berry
preserves and baking spice. Elegantly
extracted, subtle layers of savory fruit &
warming spice reward and soothe the
palate. Pleasant tannins wrap up this
beautiful wine and carry the long, smooth
finish. Enjoy responsibly with those you
LOVE!”

Production of this 2017 GHB from Heibel Ranch Vineyards was small, only 56 cases were produced.

Some advice on food and wine pairings: Pairing can be difficult, and the best way to learn is often by trial and error. Finding wines you really enjoy and trying them with different types of food will teach you more than any guide book. Keep trying, because every bottle and food combination can be so different, plus once you stumble on a favorite pairing you’ll want to share it with everyone.

Garden Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

With some good soil, the proper temperatures and a little extra TLC, growing bell peppers can be a satisfying garden project. If garden space is not available, you can grow all varieties of peppers in containers, but bell peppers can grow into large plants, so it’s best to plant them in large enough pots.

Even though this is a Red Pepper Sauce if my garden gives me green, yellow or orange bell peppers all ripe at the same time, I use all of these colors for the recipe although I stive to keep red pepper in the majority to retain the color of the sauce. However, use what you have even if the color is somewhat lighter than deep red, the flavor will still be outstanding!

The many uses of Roasted Red Peppers….

Blend them into hummus
Topping for pizza.
At breakfast fold them into scrambled eggs, omelets or frittatas.
Use them to give extra flavor to burritos and tacos.
Add them into egg, chicken, tuna salads/spreads.

Having a really good Roasted Red Pepper Sauce recipe in your back pocket can open up more menu ideas that just serving it on pasta. It’s equally delicious on chicken, fish, and meatballs plus it can be served as a dipping sauce or used as a pizza sauce.

A Note on Building Flavor…

Bring on the herbs-Building flavors in your dishes can be achieved in many different ways, yet nothing adds more wonderful flavor or aroma to even the simplest of dishes than fresh herbs.

Get Growing: Growing culinary herbs is the easiest way to start a kitchen garden. Most herbs are undemanding and produce continuous harvests throughout the season. Even if you have no room for a garden, if you have a sunny spot you can grow herbs in containers or indoors in your window sill.

Here I picked some basil, chives and rosemary to add a herbaceous flavor to the Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.

Fresh herbs can elevate any dish and take your cooking to a restaurant quality level. Dried herbs can also add flavor, but you’ll want to use those when you have time to let them work their magic. They are best used in marinades or added to the cooking process early on.

Building Layers in a sauce…

An essential step, that creates the foundation for building the layers of flavors in this Roasted Red Pepper Sauce is not only enhancing the flavors of the red peppers, onion and garlic by roasting them, but combining them in the pot separately at first to allow each ingredient to build a bond with the other ingredients.

After roasting all of the vegetables, I combine the roughly chopped roasted onions and garlic into a stock pot with a dash of garlic olive oil and allow this to cook on a medium-low temperature. If you are patient you will really taste the difference with a depth of flavor that isn’t created until later in the cooking process.

Cheese makes everything better…

Making a homemade sauce that is so simple and so incredibly delicious gets even better with the addition of freshly grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese.

This sauce is a great alternative to using a traditional tomato sauce for those who would like a sauce with less acidity and zesty flavor.

Incredibly Freezer Friendly: This sauce is perfect to make and freeze when you have a surplus of bell peppers! Plus, storing this sauce in the freezer will help you get weeknight dinners on the table in a flash.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce and Homemade Pasta

This Roasted Red Pepper Sauce has an incredible velvety texture with complex and robust flavors! It’s bursting with savory notes from the smoky roasted bell peppers, sweet onions, garlic, and aromatic seasonings, while the nutty pecorino or parmesan cheese and rich heavy cream gives an additional depth that elevates the sauce.

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