Roasted Corn and Tomato Soup

E: I’m going to (try to) make this post short and sweet. We are just back from spending the Thanksgiving holidays at my parents’ place (with a brief sojourn to see my aunt, uncle, and some of my cousins). We had some wonderful times and ate some wonderful food. But it also means we haven’t posted in a while. I apologize if this post is more slipshod than usual, but I feel like we’ve got to put something up regardless of how unqualified to write my present state of exhaustion makes me.

A few weeks ago, we wanted to make another tomato-y soup, and it was my idea to add some roasted corn. Joanna finished it off by suggesting we blend in some ricotta and serve it with some grated, smoked Gouda. This is a really great combination, with the smokiness of the cheese playing off some of the char from the tomatoes, pepper, and corn. It would be even better if you roasted the pepper over a gas burner, or just did a bunch of stuff on the grill. We just used an oven and some sheet pans.

Recipe loosely adapted from one by Renée Loux:

1 medium-large sweet onion
5-ish plum tomatoes or other small tomatoes, or 2-3 large tomatoes
1 red pepper
3-4 cloves garlic
1 cup frozen corn (or about that much fresh corn kernels)
3-4 cups water or vegetable stock
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 C. ricotta
salt & pepper to taste
olive oil
smoked gouda & chives (for garnish)

First off, set your oven preheating to about 400F. Chop up the onion and set it aside for now.

Wash your tomatoes and pepper and set them on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, and put this in your oven.

Prepare the garlic cloves for roasting by taking off their skins and placing them in a foil packet with some olive oil, salt, and pepper. You can put them on the sheet too, or anywhere in the oven.

Roast the tomatoes for about 25 minutes. The pepper could use some more time (maybe 35 minutes). The garlic only needs about 15 minutes at 400F. When things are done roasting, set them aside to cool. When reasonably cool, chop them up.

You’ll also need to roast some corn. Place the corn on a baking sheet with olive oil, salt and pepper (sensing a pattern here?) and let it roast in the oven for about 25 minutes, stirring it around occasionally.

While some of the vegetables are roasting, start cooking the onion. Add a little oil to your pot and sauté the onion until it starts to get a bit golden. Try to time this so your tomatoes are cool enough to be cut. Cut them up and toss them in with the onion. Cook for just a few minutes so the tomatoes start to release their juices.

Add the stock or water, chopped red pepper, and smashed garlic. Simmer for about 10 minutes. By now your corn should be done too, so add that in. Simmer for another 5 minutes or so.

Add the oregano and any other herbs you would like, the ricotta, and salt and pepper to taste. Blend the soup however you see fit (we used an immersion blender).

Serve topped with grated smoked Gouda and some artfully-arranged chives. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. This is one I’m positively itching to make again.

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