Smoky Tomato Soup With Preserved Lemon Green Olive Salsa Recipes

SMOKY TOMATO SOUP WITH PRESERVED LEMON & GREEN OLIVE SALSA

Steps:

• Heat the butter and oil in a large saucepan on a medium heat, add the onion, celery and carrot and fry until tender, without turning golden, about 10 mins. Add the bay and garlic, and fry for a minute before adding the tomatoes and stock. Simmer for 10 mins, stirring occasionally.
• Remove the bay leaves, and blend the soup in a liquidiser or with a stick blender until smooth. Season well and add the smoked paprika, sugar and vinegar to balance the soup with sweet, smokiness and a little acidity.
• For the salsa, crush the garlic with a pinch of salt using a pestle and mortar. Halve and deseed the chilli and chop roughly. Add to the mortar with the coriander and olives and bash, gradually adding the oil and vinegar until you have a rough paste (it should be chunky). Mix in the preserved lemon, then stir in the brine from the jar to taste.

SMOKED TOMATO SALSA

Steps:

• For the smoked tomatoes: Preheat a smoker for cooking at 225 degrees F. Place tomatoes in a pan in the smoker and let smoke, 2 hours.
• For the salsa: Add the smoked tomatoes, chipotles, salt, pepper, roasted garlic, cilantro, jalapenos, lime juice and 1 cup water to a food processor. Pulse until ingredients are combined and salsa is chunky.

MEYER LEMON-GREEN OLIVE SALSA

Steps:

• Place the shallot, champagne vinegar, and a healthy pinch of salt in a small bowl, and let sit 5 minutes.
• Slice the stem and blossom ends from the Meyer lemons. Stand the lemons on one end, and cut them vertically into 1/8-inch slices. Stack the slices in small piles on a cutting board, and cut them lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick matchsticks. Line up the matchsticks, and cut them into 1/8-inch cubes.
• Add the diced lemon to the shallot. Stir in the honey, olives, parsley, a pinch of pepper, and the olive oil. Taste for balance and seasoning.

SMOKED TOMATO SALSA

Steps:

• Make an aluminum foil "basket" to hold the food and fit in your smoker. You should have clearance on all four sides and the top.
• Place the tomatoes, garlic, jalepenos, and onion into the foil basket. If you like hotter salsa, leave the seeds in the jalepenos. Otherwise, take them out.
• Load your smoker with 2 to 4 tablespoons of wood chips. I use apple, but that's me.
• Assemble your smoker according to factory directions. The foil basket goes on top of the wire rack.
• Start the smoker on high, close up and turn to medium low. Same as always for the Cameron smoker.
• Cook for about 45 minutes. The tomatoes should soften, but not be mushy. It takes somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes to do this.
• Turn the smoker off and leave it closed. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes.
• Pour the liquid that accumulated in the foil basket into a small work bowl. Reserve for later. (Don't throw it out, the flavor is too good to toss.).
• Remove the garlic. If you didn't peel it, squeeze the garlic paste out of the peel. Mash.
• Reserve 1 tomato, all the chiles, and 1/4 cup onion. The chile flavor has infused into the tomatoes, so proceed with caution.
• Process the garlic, most of tomatoes and SOME of the onion until it reaches the desired texture (use food processor, batches in the blender, or immersion blender depending on what you have). If the mixture seems stiff, use some of the reserved cooking liquid to thin it down.
• TASTE. Add the smoked chiles in small batches to reach the desired heat level.
• TASTE. Add cilantro, lime juice and salt to taste. This is personal, and it will vary from batch to batch depending on how ripe the veggies were.
• Take the reserved vegetables and chop them finely. Add them to the processed salsa. This gives you 2 textures. If you want only one, then blend away.
• Add additional fresh chopped jalepeno and chopped green onions to taste. Or, leave them out.
• If the salsa turned out too hot, add about 1/2 tsp sugar. This will make it less hot tasting.
• Serve hot or cold with crispy tortilla chips and a cooling beverage.

MEYER LEMON-GREEN OLIVE SALSA

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine shallots, champagne vinegar, and salt; let stand 5 minutes.
• On a work surface, stand lemons on cut end. Slice vertically into 1/8-inch-thick slices. Stack slices, and cut lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick matchsticks. Line up matchsticks, and cut into 1/8-inch cubes.
• Add lemon to shallots; stir in honey, olives, parsley, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

SMOKY SPANISH TOMATO SOUP

Steps:

• Cut a shallow X in bottom of each tomato. Blanch in batches in a pot of boiling water 15 to 30 seconds, then transfer to an ice bath. Peel and seed tomatoes, then coarsely chop.
• Cook onion and bell peppers in oil with 1/2 teaspoon salt in a wide 5-quart heavy pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 15 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, pimentón, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes are tender and falling apart, about 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, crush garlic to a paste with cumin using a mortar and pestle (or crush cumin with side of a heavy knife, mince and mash garlic, and stir together).
• Stir garlic-cumin paste and bread crumbs into tomato mixture. Purée soup in batches in a blender until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids) and return to cleaned pot. Thin to desired consistency with water and season with salt and pepper.
• Serve soup topped with figs or grapes, depending on the season.