Easy Roasted Tomato Soup and Cheddar Garlic Biscuits

January Soup Supper

Mexican Roasted Tomato Soup

Cheddar Garlic Biscuits

Napa Cabbage Toss

Quick roasted canned tomatoes give this creamy soup a depth and richness.

I love most all tomato soups, even those in the can. But making it yourself is super easy and simple with just a can of tomatoes, some onions and garlic. This time I took a tip from Jennifer Perillo’s blog and roasted the canned tomatoes for an hour first. It took a decidedly Mexican spin—the only stewed tomatoes I had on-hand were diced, stewed and Mexican-style, and the onions were green. With a wee bit of heat from the Mexican tomatoes, the taste was a nice change from the trustworthy, but tired, basil usually found in tomato soup. A bit of cheese swirled into the hot soup topped it off.

We all know the reason to go to Red Lobster is for the Cheddar biscuits. This seems to be unanimous, confirmed by a Google search for said biscuits, where I found pages and pages of recipes. Most of them called for biscuit mix (aka Bisquick), which I have nothing against, but didn’t feel was quite right in this case. I didn’t want the biscuits to taste like the dumplings in my kids’ favorite chicken dish. So I borrowed a page from The Food Network Magazine’s “Copy That” column. As I do with everything, I adapted it to my tastes. The extra green onions I had on hand went into the dough, and some garlic-parsley butter brushed on at the end gave the biscuits a perfect, garlicky finish.

Roasted Mexican Tomato Soup

1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
Fresh ground pepper
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped green onion
1 large chopped carrot
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
1 (14-ounce) can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
2 cups chicken broth
½ cup heavy cream
Monterey Jack cheese (optional)

1. Drain tomatoes. Reserving juice. Cut tomatoes into halves and place on baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and brown sugar. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil. Bake at 300F for 90 minutes, or until browned.

2. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Add onion, green onion, carrot, garlic and cumin. Cook 10 minutes, covered. Add roasted tomatoes, reserved juice, stewed tomatoes and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Mash with a potato masher, or blend with an immersion blender until partially smooth. Add cream and additional salt and sugar to taste. Serve with Monterey Jack cheese.

A brushing of garlic-parsley butter over the hot biscuits makes them irresistible.

Cheddar Garlic Biscuits (aka Red Lobster biscuits)
2 green onions
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon coarse salt
6 tablespoons butter, cold
6 ounces aged Cheddar cheese, grated
¾ cup milk

2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Place green onions in food processor; pulse until finely chopped. Add flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Pulse until mixed. Add cold butter in small pieces. Pulse until mixture is size of coarse meal. Add cheese; pulse until mixed. Add milk and pulse until dough comes together.

2. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead a couple times. Pat into a 1-inch thick circle. With a 2-inch biscuit cutter, cut out biscuits and place on a baking sheet. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until golden and crisp.

3. Combine melted butter, garlic and parsley. Brush over hot biscuits. Serve with tomato soup and thinly sliced Napa cabbage tossed with olive oil and sherry vinegar.

Check out these great recipes using Napa Cabbage perfect for this menu:

Thai-Stye Peanut Cabbage Salad

Feta-Cheese Cole Slaw