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Spicy Tomato Soup with Vegan Crème Fraîche

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Roasted tomatoes, peppers, and garlic come together with other delicious ingredients to make this hearty, flavorful, southwestern-style soup! The roasted ingredients are puréed like a traditional tomato soup, but I’ve also included sautéed onions, diced green chilies, and leafy greens for added texture.

Like so many other amazing foods, this soup all started with avocado. I know the avocado isn’t even one of the cooked-in ingredients, so that may sound crazy, but I promise you it’s true! My husband and I are huge fans of avocado, perhaps because we’re native Californians. I think I eat one (or part of one anyway) almost every day.

I had avocado and soup on my mind one day, so I decided this needed to happen. The avocado was a must, and I wanted it on top of something warm and delicious! The daytimes here in San Diego have been warm and beautiful lately, but the evenings get pretty chilly (for SoCal at least), which makes it so soup is still an appropriate dinner item. This is a good thing, because even though I could eat salad all year round, I know some of you (my family included) would get pretty bored with it!

After that, I’m not really sure how I came up with the spicy tomato part. I love spicy, so I suppose that part’s a given, but the tomato… perhaps because tomato and avocado often go hand-in-hand. Once I had those three portions figured out, everything else just fell into place. It definitely had a southwestern feel so roasted peppers were a must, and lime — duh. The crème fraîche, well… what good soup doesn’t go well with a little crème fraîche on top?! OK, don’t answer that, because I can actually think of a few, but there are several for which this is true.

I wanted to give this soup some texture to set it apart from a traditional, canned tomato soup. This is why I left the onion sliced rather than blending it with the roasted veggies. It’s also why I added the greens. Well, that and because I usually want to add greens to just about everything. I used red chard, de-stemmed it, and chopped it into bite size pieces to add to the soup. Finally, I threw in a can of diced green chiles, but that was mainly because I love them so much!

The first step in making this soup was to roast the veggies. I did this by actually broiling them because it’s much faster and still gets the job done. I cut the tomatoes in halves and laid them out on a baking sheet covered in aluminum foil, cut side down. On a separate baking sheet, also covered in foil, I spread out halves of a jalapeño and a red bell pepper, as well was one bulb of garlic cut horizontally. I drizzled everything on both baking sheets with olive oil. Then took turns sticking the baking sheets under the broiler for about six minutes.

When my veggies were close to being done, I started to sauté my onion and red chard in a little olive oil, in a large pot over medium heat. I put the oil and onion in first and added the chard after three minutes. Once the onion was translucent and the chard was wilted, I turned the heat to low and focused back on what was under the broiler.

Next, working in batches, I puréed all my roasted ingredients using my blender, and then added them to the pot with the onion and chard. After that, I added some fresh oregano, one can of diced green chiles, salt, pepper, and a little dried coriander.

Once all the ingredients were inside the pot, I turned the heat back up to medium. When the soup reached a simmer, I turned it down to where I could keep things at a light simmer. After 10 minutes, the soup was ready to be served!

When serving the soup I topped each bowl with drizzles of vegan crème fraîche. To make the crème fraîche, I whisked up vegan sour creamvegan cream cheese, and some cashew milk, using a handheld electric mixer. I put the crème fraîche into a pastry bag for decorative distribution. Instead of the crème fraîche, you could use just a dollop of vegan sour cream (store bought) or my cashew sour cream (which you can find a recipe for here). If making the cashew sour cream, I’d add extra water to thin it out some.

On top the crème fraîche I laid avocado slices (yum!), jalapeño slices, and a slice of lime. Before eating, I squeezed the lime in, but it’s good either way. My friend, Natasha, was my omni taste-tester, and topped hers with some cilantro as well, which she definitely enjoyed!

This soup turned out to be everything I was hoping for and craving! I was so glad, because I was definitely excited to make it! Spicy, hearty, and delicious! What’s more, I had it finished in less than an hour! I served it with Dill Pickle Kettle Chips (which tasted great dipped into the soup!) and vegan grilled cheese.

So happy to share with you another vegan-made — and omni-approved recipe! I hope you enjoy this, and if so, you know the drill! Please take a pic and tag me on Instagram, @veggiesattiffanis, or leave a comment or review on my Veggies at Tiffani’s Facebook page!

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Spicy Tomato Soup with Vegan Crème Fraîche

Author Tiffani

Ingredients

For the soup...

  • 4 lbs tomatoes halved
  • 1 red bell pepper halved — stem, seeds, and fibers removed
  • 1 bulb garlic cut in half horizontally
  • 1 jalepeño halved, stem removed (I kept the seeds)
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 white onion halved, each half cut into thin slices
  • 3 large leaves chard I used red but green or rainbow will also be fine, stems removed and cut into bite sized pieces
  • 1 Tbsp fresh oregano
  • 4 oz can diced green chiles
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp dried coriander

For serving...

  • vegan crème fraîche or substitute store bought vegan sour cream, or my Cashew Sour Cream (thinned out with extra water)
  • 1 large avocado sliced
  • 5 - 6 lime slices optional
  • jalapeño slices optional
  • cilantro leaves optional
  • dill pickle or salt and vinegar kettle chips optional

Instructions

  • Preheat broiler on high. Cover one large and one small baking sheet with aluminum foil. Lightly spray with cooking oil. On the large baking sheet lay out all tomato halves, cut side down. On the smaller baking sheet, lay out the bell pepper, jalepeño, and garlic bulb halves , cut side down. Drizzle ingredients on both baking sheets with olive oil. Put baking sheets (one at a time, if necessary) under the broiler in the upper third of the oven. Let broil about 6 minutes, checking after four minutes and rotating the baking sheets if needed. Everything is roasted when skins are blackened and the garlic is starting to brown.
  • In a large pot (or I used my dutch oven) on the stove, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion slices and sauté for 3 minutes. Add the chard, stir, and continue to sauté until onion is translucent and leaves are wilted. Turn heat to low.
  • Remove garlic cloves from skins, they should squeeze out easily. Purée roasted ingredients in blender, working in batches, if needed. Add purée to your pot with the onion and chard.
  • Add remaining soup ingredients to the pot. Stir. Turn heat back to medium until a simmer is reached. Turn heat down to where a low simmer can be maintained (about medium-low heat). Keep at a low simmer for 10 minutes. The soup is now finished, but you can keep it at low heat until ready to serve.
  • To serve, ladle soup into individual sized serving bowls. Top with drizzled crème fraîche or a dollop of sour cream, slices of avocado, and lime, jalepeño, or cilantro, if using. Serve with kettle chips, if desired. Yields: 5-6 servings

Notes

If you enjoy this soup please take a pic and tag me on Instagram, @veggiesattiffanis, or leave a comment below!
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