Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Soup

Delicious!  I loved all the deep roasted flavors in this soup.  The chickpeas add depth, the tomatoes have sweetness you get right up front and then you taste the eggplant at the end.  And, it was pretty easy to make on a weeknight.  I roasted the vegetables while I supervised baths and then finished dinner prep while the kids watched their TV for the day.

Thursday Menu – Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Soup, Cheese Quesadillas

Farm Share Food - Beefsteak Tomatoes, Garlic, Eggplant, Cilantro

The original recipe in the link below calls for plum tomatoes, I had beefsteak from the CSA and they worked fine.  I halved the original recipe and it made a perfect amount for two of us.  Last night was another “piece meal” for the kids – quesadillas and tomato slices.  There is a chance we might get carrots in our CSA next week, so save this recipe and you can make even more of the ingredients be from the CSA.  I put those frozen herbs to use and pulled out cilantro cubes to add to the soup.

Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Soup

Printable Version

1 ½ pounds beefsteak tomatoes, cut into wedges

¼ pound carrots, cut into chunks

3-5 cloves of garlic, peeled (the cloves from the CSA are huge, use your judgement)

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

½ eggplant, cut into chunks

1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 t curry powder or other Asian spice blend (I used Bangkok blend from Penzey’s)

2 cups or more broth

¼ cup cilantro, chopped

 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

 

On one rimmed baking sheet toss tomato wedges, carrots, garlic, drizzling of oil, salt and pepper.  Spread into a single layer.

 

On a second rimmed baking sheet toss eggplant, chickpeas, curry powder or spice blend, salt and pepper.  Spread into a single layer.

 

Place baking sheets in the oven and roast 45 minutes, tossing mixtures after about 20 minutes.

Reserve about half of the roasted chickpeas for garnish.

 

Transfer the remaining vegetables into a soup pot, add broth and cilantro.  Puree with an immersion blender.  Add broth until the soup is the consistency you would like.  Simmer until time to serve.  Garnish with reserved roasted chickpeas.

 

NOTE: The soup can be pureed with a food processor or blender.