Rosemary tomato soup and sourdough bread

Last summer I roasted the Roma  tomatoes that I grew in the garden. Below is a link to another post on this blog for roasting tomatoes. I have used them to make tomato soup and spaghetti sauce. This recipe produces a very thick soup/sauce. If you want a more liquid soup, add more chicken stock. If you process the cooked ingredients in a blender you will get a smoother soup, using the food processor preserves some of the texture. If you don't have roasted tomatoes, used canned.

1 leek
1 carrot
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
sprig of fresh rosemary
canned or frozen roasted tomatoes

Peel the carrot and onion. Remove the dark green part of the leek and chop the white and light green parts.

Dice the carrot and onion.

Peel and dice the cloves of garlic.

1 tsp minced rosemary (mince the rosemary, then measure)
3 cloves of garlic minced
2 quart bags of frozen Roma tomatoes
1 14.5 oz can of petite diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons salt (The chicken stock I use is home made and does not have any salt added. If you use commercial chicken stock, add less salt)
1/2 tsp pepper

3 cups of chicken stock

In a large pot, melt the butter and olive oil.

Add the diced carrot, leek and onion. Saute until tender but do not let them brown.

Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the minced rosemary, salt and pepper and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the 2 quart bags of frozen roasted tomatoes, no need to thaw them, just add to the pot.
Add 3 cups of chicken stock, bring to a boil and turn down to simmer.

When the carrots and leek are tender, process the soup in a food processor or blender in batches. Return the soup to the pot, adjust seasonings if necessary and you are ready to serve.

If you like a creamy tomato soup, add some milk or cream to get the consistency desired.

And now for the bread!

The sourdough bread was made with the starter made from scratch, hereafter referred to as "George" to distinguish him from Marx and Engels who reside in the fridge. George was started on January 16th and has been fed twice a day since and is residing on the kitchen counter.
The sour tang is developing nicely.

The only ingredients to make this starter were flour and water. You begin with a whole wheat flour and spring water, then feed with all purpose flour and water. No yeast is added. Fermentation is a wonderful thing!


The King Arthur website has information for making a sourdough starter and recipes for making sourdough bread. The King Arthur site has lots of great recipes and a blog about sourdough.

Just before putting the loaf of sourdough into the oven, mist it with water and cut slits with a sharp serrated knife.

After 25 minutes at 425 degrees, the loaves are golden and smell fabulous!












These loaves rose more and had a softer texture than the first two I baked. One thing to remember about sourdough baking according to the folks at King Arthur, "it is more art than science". All I know is that it is yummy!

Baking Day

It may be frigid outside but it is warm in the kitchen. Overnight a loaf of sourdough bread and sourdough sweet rolls spent the night in the fridge. This morning they went back to the proofing box to rise a little more and then into the oven.

The recipe for this sourdough is one I have been working with for a time. There are two batches of sourdough in the fridge. One is named Marx and the other Engels *. One I started with the instant yeast and the other with the fresh yeast. I alternate using them, but by now I am not sure I can tell the difference in their performance. I use these starters for the recipe found on the page with the post about sourdough bread and starter.



I think that the overnight time in the fridge improved the outward appearance of the loaf.

To make the rolls, I just took a little less than half of the dough and rolled it out into a rectangle. I should say coax, because it doesn't want to roll really. Slather it with soft butter, and a generous amount of brown sugar. This time I put dried cranberries in the rolls because that is what I had on hand. Raisins, nuts, cinnamon also work well. Then beginning on the long end of the rectangle, roll the dough up and it will elongate somewhat as you roll. Place it seam down and cut into 6 slices. When you place them into a round greased pan, you need to place the 'seam ends' so that the seam is next to the edge, they like to try to open up as they rise. I baked them in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. They were done, the loaf took about 10 minutes longer. Check with an instant read thermometer. The desired temp is 200 degrees F.

 I put a glaze on the sweet rolls of fresh orange juice and 10x sugar on the rolls while they were still warm, but the bread just browned nicely on its own.

Nothing beats fragrance of fresh baked bread !

*Husband Don was a history teacher and years ago we had a couple of hamsters that he named Marx and Engels. They lived here at home for many years longer than a normal hamster life span. When one finally died, the other died within a few weeks. When I was reading about sourdough starters, one of the articles suggested 'naming' your starters. Since I had two at that point, Marx and Engels seemed like a good idea. At the moment they seem to have control of the lower shelf of the fridge.

My Dad's cornbread recipe

Recently I found a recipe that my father had typed on his old Royal typewriter for cornbread. The last line at the bottom of the page says "From Parker's Kitchen".

I have made it several times and loved the rustic texture and savory flavors. It is very simple to make.

Here is the recipe:
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup plus 1 tsp plain flour (I use King Arthur All Purpose)
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 whole spring onions, chopped including the green tops
1/4 tsp rosemary finely minced
1 large egg
2/3 cup buttermilk


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Sift the dry ingredients together (cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, & baking soda).

Dice the onions and rosemary.

Add the rosemary, onions, buttermilk and egg to the bowl and mix thoroughly.

I found I needed to add a couple more teaspoons of buttermilk to get the consistency I wanted.

Generously oil an 8 inch cast iron skillet and pour in the batter.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 - 30 minutes until golden brown.

If you double this recipe it will make 12 corn muffins. I used a 1 3/4 inch diameter ice cream scoop to measure out the batter into each section. Just generously grease the muffin pan, including the top around each muffin so that the baked muffins will slide out easily.

You could make this ahead of time, mixing the dry ingredients and have the rosemary and onions chopped and ready to add. Once you add the egg and buttermilk, you need to be ready to put it in the oven.

Finding this recipe brought back lots of memories of my Dad.

I'll bet he made it to serve with the oysters he loved to roast on the grill. Thanks Dad!

Live animal cams on Journey North

On a previous post I mentioned the website Journey North. It has the most fabulous activities and information. The most recent email from them mentions that it is the season where the seal pups are born. Since sunrise is late and sunset is early, they have recorded video clips to share when it is dark. This location is an island off the coast of Maine.

Live seal cam on Journey North

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!