Homemade Tomato Soup for Colder Maine Fall and Winters.

This time of the year it starts to cool off in Maine. The days get shorter and the temperatures start to dip. Sometimes I like to make a simple comfort food to nibble on by the fireplace in my house. Sometimes it’s potato soup, but today’s choice was tomato soup instead.

I generally start with a cast iron skillet on top of the stove. I brown an entire yellow onion and about 5 cloves of garlic in some avacado oil. This oil is a high heat oil that doesn’t smoke on the stove. After everything has browned, I add a few tablespoons of turmeric and some freshly ground black pepper.

In my InstantPot, I start with about 2 pounds of San Marino tomatoes from my garden. I lightly steam them to get the skins loosened and then peel them. Next a 28 ounce can of fire roasted diced tomatoes and 2 tablespoons of tomato paste goes in. I add tarragon, rosemary, and a touch of Mexican epozote spices along with a pinch of crushed red peppers. I used 3 cups of organic vegetable broth in the pot.

I added the cooked onions and garlic into the pot, and blend it in. I layered 3 bay leaves and set the InstantPot on high pressure for 15 minutes.

Once the 15 minutes are up I do a quick pressure release and dunk my immersion blender in and fire it up. As everything is being blended smooth, I added an entire pint of half and half to the pot and blend it in as well.

Now you want to add the half and half AFTER the soup has cooked. This gives it a really creamy texture. The residual heat of the soup is enough to warm up the half and half. If you add it BEFORE the soup is done, cooking the half and half with the tomatoes will cause it to curdle and wreck the soup.

Of course I also baked a loaf of black rye bread to butter up and eat with the soup. Once I ladled the soup into my cup, I sprinkled in a handful of shredded Parmesan cheese. It just makes the combo perfect. And — I chased this down with a pair of frosty mugs of Guinness.

THIS — is how you do a frosty New England evening.