Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Tomato-Orange Soup -- #recipe by @LeslieBudewitz

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  This month marks the start of my 8th year at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen, and when I checked the archives to see if I’d posted this soup before, I discovered that while I hadn’t shared this recipe, on average, I do post a recipe for tomato soup about every two years. (Here's the Tomato-Basil Soup I created to replicate one I loved in a long-gone Seattle deli that's the model for Ripe, Laurel's restaurant in the Spice Shop mysteries. We still love this chunky Roasted Tomato Soup, and this flavorful Tomato-Rice Soup is full of veggies and good spicery.)  

The appeal of tomato soup makes sense. Soup is comfort food, warming in cold weather, and tomatoes are delicious! They are also one of the few vegetables reliably good canned. I’ve been cooking up this version for many years, adapting it from a Weight Watchers recipe I discovered literally decades ago. It’s super easy and can be ready for the table in 20 minutes. Legit—I’ve learned not to trust time estimates on most recipes, as you probably have too, but this one comes together so quickly you’ll barely have time to make the salad and cut or toast some bread. But you can make it up to the last step, turn off the heat, and come back later to add the final ingredients and warm it to serving temperature if you’d like.

The recipe is also flexible. I usually use a yellow onion, but white or red will work. Use crushed tomatoes if you like a smoother soup—no pureeing required, or diced tomatoes if that’s what your mouth is after. The original calls for yogurt, which is lovely, but so is sour cream. And while I've been making this soup far longer than I've been writing the Spice Shop mysteries, the allspice is an unusual touch I know would get Pepper's approval.  

While I stirred the soup, Mr. Right cut sourdough sandwich bread into soldiers topped with olive oil and grated Parmesan, then broiled them. Voila! The perfect mid-week, mid-winter lunch or dinner. 

Tomato-Orange Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup, or more, chopped onion

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth

1 15 ounce can crushed or diced tomatoes

½ teaspoon white sugar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

½ cup orange juice

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 cup yogurt or sour cream

orange slices or triangles for garnish (optional)

In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the oil. Add the onions and saute until soft, about 3-5 minutes. Add the flour and stir to coat. Slowly pour in the broth, then add the tomatoes, sugar, and salt. Bring to a low boil, stirring to avoid sticking. Lower heat and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes. Add the orange juice and allspice; stir and bring back to serving temperature.

Top each serving with a spoonful of yogurt or sour cream. An orange slice or triangle is a lovely garnish.





Serves 4. 

What's your favorite winter soup or stew? 



From the cover of BLIND FAITH, written as Alicia Beckman (in hardcover, ebook, and audio from Crooked Lane Books, October 2022)  


Long-buried secrets come back with a vengeance in a cold case gone red-hot in Agatha Award-winning author Alicia Beckman’s second novel, perfect for fans of Laura Lippman and Greer Hendricks.

Two women whose paths crossed in Montana years ago discover they share keys to a deadly secret that exposes a killer—and changes everything they thought they knew about themselves. 





Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries and the Spice Shop Mysteries, continuing in July 2022 with Peppermint Barked. She's the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories. Death al Dente, the first Food Lovers' Village Mystery, won Best First Novel in 2013, following her 2011 win in Best Nonfiction. Her first historical short story, "All God's Sparrows," won the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Short Story. As Alicia Beckman, she writes standalone suspense, beginning with Bitterroot Lake (2021) and continuing with Blind Faith (October 2022, Crooked Lane Books).

A past president of Sisters in Crime and a current board member of Mystery Writers of America, she lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.

Swing by her website and subscribe to her seasonal newsletter, for a chat about the writing life, what she's working on, and  what she's reading -- and a free short story. And join her on Facebook where she shares book news and giveaways from her writer friends, and talks about food, mysteries, and the things that inspire her.

12 comments:

  1. My favorite has to be the vegetable beef soup like my Mom made. With veggies out of our garden that we froze, having it in the middle of winter is not only delicious, but gives up a hint of the gardens to come. We also make and eat a lot of homemade potato soup in the winter months too.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  2. This sounds so good. My favorite winter soup if my mom's chicken soup. I usually keep a stash of it in my freezer.

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  3. My husband makes a great veggie soup with slivered steak bites.My mom did the potato soup.This sounds like a great recipe to try tonight-- yum!

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  4. My favorite is Tomato Soup!! Never heard of adding the orange juice, but sounds really good. Thanks.
    lindalou64(@)live(dot)com

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    1. The OJ gives it brightness and the allspice a dash of warmth. I hope you enjoy it!

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  5. The addition of allspice and OJ has me rolling the idea around over my mental tastebuds. Tantalizing idea.

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    1. Give it a try. And you know, it would be great with the apple cheddar scones that were such a hit with your hunny!

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    2. The addition a of apple cheddar scones is genious! Thanks!
      lindalou64(@)live(dot)com

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