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As I planted garlic cloves for next year’s harvest in the chilly weather today, my hands were cold even though it was a clear sunny day after many days of rain. All I thought of is how I was going to make the garlicky creamy roasted tomato soup that warms me up inside out.

Some of my heirloom tomatoes and red bell peppers from this summer have remained sitting on a kitchen counter to ripen. This recipe is a nice way to clean up my kitchen and create some room for imminent winter vegetables.

Garlicky Creamy Roasted Tomato Soup

I always eyeball the amount of ingredients for this recipe. When I have too many tomatoes screaming to be used, the soup gets thicker. So feel free to adjust to your desired consistency using fewer tomatoes. The result is always delicious as long as you stay patient and carefully roast and semi-caramelize the vegetables.

Yields about 2.5 L

2 kg heirloom tomatoes, sliced into 1 inch pieces

2 red bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces

2 onions, sliced into ½ inch pieces

10 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly sliced

1 tablespoon cane sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

½ cup olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

2 stalks celery, cut into ½ inch pieces

1½ L chicken stock or vegetable stock

1 cup heavy cream, warm

Garnish

Parmesan cheese, freshly ground

Italian parsley, chopped

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Place the tomatoes and red bell peppers on a rimmed baking sheet. Scatter the onions and garlic on top. Sprinkle over the vegetables with the sugar, salt, and black pepper, and then drizzle with the olive oil, coating all the onions and tomatoes as much as possible. Roast until the tomatoes and onions are lightly charred, about 30 minutes.

Baste the liquid over the vegetables and roast for another 10 minutes.

In a large heavy bottomed pot, melt the butter and sauté the celery over medium high heat.

Add the roasted tomatoes and the liquid to the pot, and bring to a simmer.

Add the chicken stock and simmer for 30 minutes. Skim constantly.

Puree the soup in a blender or Vitamix, and return it to the pot. Add the warmed cream and simmer further to reach the desired consistency.

Adjust with salt and pepper and serve immediately with crusty bread. Garnish with the cheese and parsley.

A gloomy sky recently took the edge off the previous days of scorching heat. An unexpected sudden shower even washed away the neighbouring streets. I love the smell of asphalt when rain hits. There’s something liberating and something unchanged about it. Loud thunder reminds me of the humid Japanese typhoon seasons of my childhood. Only our summer here in Vancouver is much drier.

One of things I like about the Vancouver region is that we can cook pretty much anything in any season. We can have fresh tomato salsa one afternoon and stew the next day. There are no set rules, per se. It’s because summer can take a sudden turn, and I consider we’ve been lucky this year to have had two extra weeks of sun that we didn’t have last year. Today, it felt right to do a roast chicken, something cozy and homey in contrast to the stormy evening. I roasted just harvested carrots and French pole beans to accompany the poultry. While listening to the thunder, we served some red wine and warm garlicky whole chicken. It’s still pouring outside, providing much needed rain drops for every food grower.

Rosemary Garlic Roast Chicken

Serves 2 plus leftover for next day’s sandwich

1 Free range organic chicken

A few sprigs rosemary, cut into 1 inch lengths

A few sprigs thyme

2 garlic cloves, cut into sticks

2 tablespoons butter, room temperature

1/3 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper

15 baby carrots, leaves removed

A big handful of pole beans and/or bush beans

Take out the chicken from a refrigerator about half an hour before cooking. In the meantime, prepare the vegetables.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Wash the chicken inside out and pat dry. Lay the bird chest up in a roasting pan and rub it with butter and olive oil before giving a gentle massage to the bird. Cut ten or so slits in the chest and insert a piece of rosemary and garlic in each slit. Fill the cavity with the rest of the garlic and rosemary.

Roast the chicken in the oven for about one hour and twenty minutes, basting often (spoon the grease from the bottom of the pan and pour over the chicken) about every 25 minutes. Then add the vegetables and thyme around the chicken, and baste the grease over them. Continue roasting until thoroughly cooked for about another 40 minutes or longer depending on the size of a chicken.

Take the pan out of the oven and transfer the chicken and the vegetables to a serving plate. Cover the bird with a piece of aluminum foil and rest for 15 minutes. Reserve the grease from the pan for making gravy sauce (recipe below).

Gravy Sauce

The grease from the bottom of the roasting pan

1 cup chicken broth

2 tablespoons white wine

Flour

Salt and pepper

Combine the grease, chicken broth and wine in a medium pan over medium heat. Reduce to half. Add flour in a small amount and stir well till your favourite consistency is achieved. Adjust with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately with the rosemary garlic roast chicken.