The Summer Soup
Fennel-Scented Tomato Soup with Grilled Vegetables
When summer’s on, I get a lot simpler in my cooking: go to market, throw beautiful fish and veggies (or just veggies) on grill, eat, and repeat. In between all-out grill fests, I make salads or soups out of the extras. This soup, a jolt of golden-red tomato flavor, is a favorite backdrop for elegant fennel fans and chunks of grilled summer squash. I like it warm most of the time, but if the day is truly scorching, I won’t hesitate to serve it cold.
Extra ingredients: grilled vegetables, such as eggplant, fennel, and zucchini
Time: 30 minutes (20 minutes active)
Makes 4 to 6 servings (about 2 quarts)
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more to garnish
1 large fennel bulb, finely diced (about 2 cups), plus any tender fronds saved for garnish
1 yellow onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper, plus more to taste
2 teaspoons ground fennel seeds
2 teaspoons fine sea salt, plus more to taste
1 pinch saffron (about ¼ teaspoon), optional
2 thyme sprigs
One 14.5-ounce can whole tomatoes and juices, squeezed into smaller pieces, white cores plucked out
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 cups grilled summer vegetables, such as fennel wedges, zucchini spears, quartered spring onions, bell pepper strips, or sliced eggplant, chopped or otherwise cut into small pieces
1. Preheat the oven to 275°F.
2. In a large saucepan or stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the fennel, onion, garlic, Aleppo pepper, fennel seeds, and sea salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the saffron, if using, and thyme and cook 1 more minute. Add the tomatoes and their juices, and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook gently for 10 to 15 minutes, until the fennel and onions are tender. Remove the thyme sprigs and, working carefully, use an immersion blender (or, working in batches, a regular blender) to puree the soup. Whisk in more water bit by bit to make a nice spoonable texture. Taste the soup and add more salt, Aleppo pepper, and/or black pepper (it will depend a lot on whether the summer vegetables were already highly seasoned). The soup can be stopped here, cooled, and refrigerated for several days or frozen for up to 6 months.
3. While the soup is simmering, place the grilled vegetables on a rimmed baking sheet or large ovenproof skillet and warm them in the oven.
4. To serve, spoon the soup into bowls. Top with a mixture of grilled vegetables. Garnish each bowl with fennel fronds and drizzle generously with olive oil.
VARIATIONS
- Change the vegetables. Many different cooked vegetables can work here; try corn and eggplant together.
- Use fresh tomatoes. If you have great ripe tomatoes, core, peel (if you like), and puree them in lieu of the canned tomatoes (use about 2 cups of chunked-up tomatoes).
- Add some heft. Warm up cooked chicken, braised beef or lamb, cooked salmon, cooked bay shrimp, cooked chickpeas, or cooked Italian sausage and stir it into the soup.
- Add some pasta. You can add a little sturdiness to the soup with some leftover pasta as well: orzo, elbows, and other smaller shapes work best for soups, but you can also use roughly chopped long noodles such as spaghetti or pappardelle.
- Take it in a Moroccan direction. Add 1 teaspoon of ground cumin and a cinnamon stick while cooking the fennel and onions. Use with the grilled vegetables or add some cooked chopped lamb and/or cooked lentils to the soup.