Tomato Soup in Puff Pastry
TOMATO SOUP IN PUFF PASTRY😍
Welcome back to my childhood series, where I post recipes that remind me of my youth. The inspiration from this recipe comes from a French restaurant in San Francisco I ate at with my grandparents for my 8th grade graduation. Now my grandparents have this thing where they treat each of their 5 grandchildren equally, so much so that we used to get random checks on Christmas for $8 on top of our gifts, which meant one of my cousin’s gifts was $8 more expensive than mine so they had to even out the scales.
So every time one of us graduated from 8th grade, we would each stay up at my grandparents house in the Bay Area and go into the city for a nice dinner. I remember walking into this restaurant like it was yesterday, it had an aura of sophistication that made me immediately want to appear more mature than I was.
So when it came to ordering, I ordered the wedge salad because I thought that’s what grown ups do, despite not liking blue cheese and despite my grandpa’s gentle encouragement to order the puff pastry tomato soup they were so well known for. So our meals come and of course I don’t like mine, and I look over at my grandpa and he has the most glorious looking tomato soup with a golden brown puff pastry laying perfectly on top and I feel instant regret rushing to my face.
Seeing this, and without saying a word, my grandpa gently lifts my plate and replaces it with his, allowing me to have one of the best meals I remember still to this day, 13 years later. So as much as I wanted to finally recreate this dish for you guys, I also had to for my grandpa. After all, I owed him big time.
The restaurant was called Bistro Jeanty, and although the SF location has since closed down, they do have a location in Yountville in case you want to check it out! Just please get the tomato soup and not the wedge ;)
Note:
You can either serve these in individual ramekins like the ones I have here: https://amzn.to/3bQyFf4 , or you can bake the puff pastry separate and just serve on top of a regular bowl. Just prick the puff pastry with a fork a few times, brush with egg wash and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
Serves 2-3.
Ingredients:
For the Roasted Tomato Soup in Puff Pastry:
16 oz cherry tomatoes
16 oz pearl tomatoes on the vine
½ cup olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 shallots, skins on
1 head of garlic
6 basil leaves
3-4 sprigs of thyme
¼ cup original nutpods, heavy cream, or canned coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste
2 sheets puff pastry, thawed
1 egg
Flaky sea salt
Directions:
For the Roasted Tomato Soup with Puff Pastry:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Slice the shallots in half but keep the skin on. Slice the top ¼” of the garlic bulb to expose the garlic cloves.
Add the cherry tomatoes, pearl tomatoes, shallots and garlic to a Dutch oven or roasting tray. Drizzle over the olive oil, ensuring the garlic and shallots are properly covered in the olive oil. Add the balsamic vinegar, half the basil, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste.
Roast covered for 20 minutes, then uncover and roast for 20-25 minutes or until the shallots and garlic are soft.
Remove the thyme from the pot, and squeeze out the insides of the shallots and garlics back into the pot.
By either using an immersion blender or a blender, blend the tomatoes with the roasted garlic, shallots, basil from the pot + 3 fresh basil leaves, and juices from the pot. Stir in the Nutpods/cream and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Roll a puff pastry sheet and cut so it’s about 2” larger on each side than your ramekins as you want about 2” of overhang. Spoon the soup into 2 16oz ramekins, and lay the puff pastry circles over the ramekins, crimping at the sides to seal. Cut two small slits in the center to allow steam to evaporate.
Whisk together 1 egg and 1 tbsp water and brush the puff pastry with the egg wash and sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Bake at 400 degrees on the middle rack of your oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Timing will vary quite a bit depending on your oven, so start checking for that golden brown color around 15 minutes in.
Let cool for 2-3 minutes before serving and enjoy!
To reheat: microwave until warm, then place on the lower rack of your oven and broil on low for 3-4 minutes or until puff pastry is crisp.