It tis the season where tomatoes are often ripening in the garden faster than they can be eaten or given away. In such times, I often make my “Smokey Tomato Soup” (which can be frozen and eaten throughout the winter). I also often make a batch or two at the end of the season when the last of the tomatoes are removed to ripen inside. 

I will warn you, while the recipe is simple, it is also messy and labor-intensive. I just made a batch yesterday and it took me about three hours from the first slicing and dicing – to the counter cleanup (with tomato sauce everywhere). 

The “smokey” in the soup’s title comes from the fact that “my” tomatoes are cooked over charcoal briquettes on an old-fashioned Weber Grill. As the tomatoes are baked on the grill, they absorb some of the smoke from the briquettes. To tell you the truth, I don’t think that the soup would taste much different if you used a gas grill (and maybe a bit of liquid smoke). 

I will not try to give you precise ingredient and cooking instructions, herein. I will just tell you what I did yesterday. You can figure it out and make any adjustments required. And I will also note that the recipe is very forgiving. All the ingredients can be increased or decreased “to taste,” and one can add all sorts of things to the soup as desired (e.g., salt, pepper, garlic, garlic powder; cooked mushrooms, peppers, or rice). 

I should also note that this recipe, in my opinion, only works with surplus garden tomatoes. The economics don’t work if you must buy the tomatoes. Instead, go out and buy a good quality can of tomato soup. I assure you that after making this soup, you will never complain again about the cost of a can of tomato soup. 

Ingredients (in my last batch, which made 12 cups of soup) 

·         16 medium to large tomatoes (I cooked 6-1/2 pounds of cored tomatoes yesterday, as pictured in this post – just the tomatoes in the glass container). 

·         3 medium to large white onions (sliced and diced). 

·         16 ounces (1 jar) of creamy peanut butter. Peanut butter is the secret ingredient. My wife thinks I should use the more expensive “organic” peanut butter. Some people substitute the even more expensive tahini butter. Your call. I am fine with just plain (and cheap) peanut butter. 

Prep Instructions 

1.      Slice and dice the onions. Then begin to sauté them on low heat. Note: You won’t need them for an hour or so, pace yourself. 

2.      Prepare the tomatoes by coring them and cutting out any bad areas (bugs, mold, cracks) – trying to retain as much “good” tomato as possible. Cutting off major skin blemishes now will save you time later. 

Grill Instructions 

1.      Fire up the grill – lots of briquettes to quickly cook the tomatoes. If you use a charcoal grill you may want to do this step before you core the tomatoes, so that the grill is ready to cook when the tomatoes are ready for the grill. 

2.      Place the tomatoes on the grill. I usually place the tomatoes cored side down and around the perimeter of the grill, such that most of the tomatoes are not over the white-hot briquettes. Dripping tomatoes can negatively affect the briquettes. Cover the grill to retain the heat and smoke. 

3.      Wait for an hour or so before removing the tomatoes. Don’t remove the tomatoes from the grill until the tomato skins are shriveled. The more shriveled, the easier they are to process (i.e., remove the skin). 

Soup Instructions 

1.      Set up the blender (or other food processor) for use. Depending on the number of tomatoes and the size of the blender/processor, I tend to process the tomatoes in smaller batches (e.g., 1-1/2 pounds of tomatoes at a time in four batches using my blender). 

2.      Remove the skin from the tomatoes (i.e., roughly 1-1/2 pounds of tomatoes). The skins won’t kill you, but some people don’t like the texture. 

3.      Place the skinned tomatoes and juices in the blender with 1/4 of the sautéed onions and 1/4 of the jar of peanut butter. Puree the mixture and then transfer it to the cooking pot. I usually use the same pot to sauté the onions (since removed) to cook the soup. 

4.      Repeat the above (like four times) until all the tomatoes, onions, and peanut butter are gone. Stir the combined batches. Note: You do not have to be very careful about the ingredient ratios of the puree batches, as all the batches will eventually come together in the cooking pot at the end. 

5.      Heat the soup slowly, while mixing occasionally, until the soup bubbles a bit (is warm). 

Serving Instructions 

·         Enjoy the soup with whatever (e.g., crackers, rice). “Tomatoes do not prevent cancer outright, but they contain compounds like lycopene that may reduce the risk of certain types of cancer” (per my iPhones AI). 

·         If all the soup cannot be consumed at the time, refrigerate or freeze what remains. The soup will last for months when it is frozen. 

·         If the soup is too thick, just dilute it with a little water or preferably milk.