Bowl of Tomato Spinach Soup
(click to enlarge)

Tomato Spinach Soup


California
Serves:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:		 5 soup
**
40 min
Yes		 An outstandingly delicious Tomato soup, vegetarian or not, and substantial enough to be a light main dish (see Serving). See also Comments.

1-1/2
5
4
1-1/2
12
-------
1
1/4
1/4
1/2
1/4
--------
1/2
5
#
oz
oz
oz

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t
t
t
t
t
---
T
c
Tomatoes, ripe
Spinach (1)
Onion, white
Celery
Mint Leaves
-- Seasonings
Coriander seeds
Cumin seeds
Chili Powder (2)  
Salt
Pepper, black
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Olive Oil ExtV
Stock (3)
Do-Ahead
  1. Float wash SPINACH. Pinch off stems. Run Leaves in a salad spinner. If doing ahead, bag in plastic and refrigerate up to overnight. Some of the Stems can also be used - see Note-1. (20 min)
  2. Make STOCK if you don't have it on hand. See Stock. (45 min)
Prep   -   (20 min)
  1. Scald TOMATOES one minute in boiling water. Quench in cold water and peel. Cut into 1/4 to 3/8 inch dice, keeping all seeds and juice with them.
  2. Cut ONION into about 1/4 inch dice. Cut CELERY into about 1/4 inch dice. If using, cut Spinach Stems 1/4 inch. Mix all.
  3. Chop Spinach fairly coarse. Chop Mint small. Mix.
  4. Grind Coriander Seeds and Cumin Seeds in your spice grinder. Mix all Seasonings items.
Run   -   (20 min)
  1. In a sauce pan sized for the whole recipe, heat Oil and fry Onion mix until Onions are just getting translucent.
  2. Stir in Seasonings mix for about 1 minute.
  3. Stir in Tomatoes, bring to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. You should end up with a fair amount of liquid.
  4. Stir in Stock, bring to a boil and simmer for about 3 minutes.
  5. Stir in Spinach mix. Bring back to a boil and simmer just a couple of minutes.
  6. Serve hot (see Serving).
NOTES:

  1. Spinach:

      Weight is Leaves only. Not "baby spinach", which lacks flavor. Some or all of the stems can be used, chopped and fried with the Onions. Wash by floating in a tub of clean cold water and sloshing around.

  2. Chili Powder

      I used Indian Khandela or Reshampatti, which are fairly hot, and give this soup moderate spiciness by Southern California standards. Use your own best judgement as to what powder and amount, but don't leave it out, even if you're from the Frozen North. For details see our Chili Powders / Flake page.

  3. Stock:

      Vegetable, Chicken or Pork stock can be used. The photo example used Vegetable Stock made from trimmings from the day's market trip - it only takes 45 minutes or so.

  4. Serving:

    If serving as a main dish soup, have a bowl of steamed Jasmine rice on the table with a spoon, so folks can spoon in however much they want.

  5. Comments:

      This recipe was suggested to me in a dream. Dreams, are a bit unstable and don't provide weights and measures, so some interpretation was needed for a real recipe. I did stay with the given basics, Diced Tomatoes, Diced White Onion, and Spinach. The French and Italians say to squeeze out the Tomato Seeds to avoid their bitterness. Much of the flavor of a tomato is in the seed mass, and I've never detected any bitterness caused by tomato seeds. This may be a hang-over from the Victorian era, when people just didn't eat seeds.
  6. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch, ar=as required tt=to taste
9ov_tomspn1 200601 ajg   -   www.clovegarden.com
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