The day after posting the ingredients list, I did some pre-shopping. Immediately, a problem. Well, more of a question than a problem -- are Roma tomatoes the same as plum tomatoes? When I was looking at the recipe, I was seeing Romas in my mind, but when I got to the store (actually, I went to two stores), nothing on display was labeled as "plum tomato". Of course, making something based on fresh ripe tomatoes at the end of December is already a bit of a problem, but I said I'd choose randomly from the box, so there you go.
And then there's the "medium" onions and garlic and "large" lemon. Perhaps these are terms that a professional chef learns to be able to estimate in his head.
To the internet! On the first question, I got as far as typing "plum toma" in the Google search box, and saw that one of the suggestions was "plum tomatoes vs roma" and it yielded plenty of results. Short answer, yes. It seems there are possibly other types of plum tomatoes, but Romas would be fine for this week's experiment.
The size problem turned out to be a little harder to figure out. I couldn't come up with the perfect search term. One on of my first attempts, I found this: "One medium onion = about 3/4 cup chopped onion." OK, great, I'll just take a knife, and measuring cup with me to the store and try to work this out. Then another result told me medium is about 3 inches in diameter. That was something I could work with -- 3π = 9.52-ish. I could take my handy IKEA measuring tape with me to the store, and be the dork standing in the produce section measuring the onions.
Oh, but wait, did you know there's a National Onion Association? Of course, why wouldn't there be? And they have a website. But they told me that a medium onion would yield a full cup when chopped, as opposed to the 3/4 cup I'd found previously. They also have a size chart, with medium coming in at 2 to 3 1/2 inches in diameter. Still needed the measuring tape, but at least I had something to work with.
Guideslines for the garlic and lemon sizes eluded me, and ultimately I was limited to what was available at the store anyway, so I just had to wing it. I did get one useful piece of advice from a friend who works in a restaurant kichen - "when told to use a large anything, buy two, use one, taste it and if it needs more, you're ready; if it doesn't, you're awesome."
Hmmm, maybe there should be an intermediate post to talk about the shopping woes. That's why this is called an experiment.
Now, about the actual cooking. In the end, I did decide to go with making a half version of the given recipe, which turned out to be a good idea for many reasons. The process was easy enough. Before I started in on the tomatoes, I peeled the onion and chopped it up in the small chopper. I also pulled a clove out of the garlic head and did my best to slice and dice it, since I don't have a garlic press.
Then it was time to work on the tomatoes. I had bought them at Trader Joe's, and they came in 18 oz clamshells, so I used my handy new kitchen scale to measure out exactly 2.5 pounds. I cut them in half and placed them on parchment paper on my largest cookie sheet. As noted, if I'd made the full recipe, I'd have run out of room quickly.
The tomatoes then went into the oven on "broil" for 10 minutes. While they were broiling, I worked on the cilantro. Bit of a pain in the ass there, but no major problem, except that the recipe called for it to be chopped, and I pretty much failed there. Before I knew it, the tomatoes were done. Maybe broiling and parchment paper don't go together too well. At least there wasn't a fire, or this would have been a short-lived experiment.
The recipe said to "brush off some of the charred skin", but to leave some, because it helps impart the roasted flavor. When I tried to do some brushing, the whole skin came off. So I just left it on mostly. Then I was supposed to remove the seeds using a teaspoon. Way easier said then done, unless there's a secret I don't know about. It took awhile and I did the best I could. Then I pureed half of them in the food processor and "finely chopped" the rest. Again, my chopping is weak, and plenty of seeds were still visible.
With the tomatoes ready and set aside, I sauted the onion and garlic in the olive oil. Once the onions were translucent, the tomatoes went into the pan and everything simmered on low, covered, for 15 minutes.
Finally, I stirred in the the cream, butter, cilantro, salt and pepper
and then it was soup time.
How did it taste? Mostly I said to myself "Wow, that's a lot of cilantro." I'm lucky not to be one of those people that gets the soapy taste from cilantro, but it really was somewhat overwhelming. I didn't notice a lot of roasted tomato flavor, but it may have been lost in the cilantro. It probably would have made a lot more sense to to add that a little at a time. Would I make it again? Possibly in the summer with actual ripe tomatoes, and a much lighter hand on the green stuff.
tools needed: garlic press
skills needed: chopping
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