Chilled Tomato Soup with Herb Infused Olive Oil

This month I had the honor of being a guest chef for Slow Food Nation's Eat-In dinner in San Francisco. The Saturday before the dinner I was given four sous chefs and approximately 20 lbs of a variety of tomatoes, a bundle of herbs and two bottles of olive oil. We had ten minutes to decide what we were going to do with all those tomatoes before we got busy in the kitchen. We decided that this delicate soup would be a wonderful way to showcase the sweet flavorful tomatoes at the peak of their season. After all the tomatoes were chopped, cooked and strained we had enough soup to feed over 100 people. The highlight of the dinner was personally delivering a cup of this soup to Ms. Alice Waters who has been my greatest source of inspiration in the world of food, farming and community service. Who is Alice Waters you dare ask? Visit http://www.chezpanisse.com/pgalice.html and be inspired!

From the Kitchen: Large Pot, food mill or strainer/seive with cheese cloth

Ingredients

2 pints Sun Gold Tomatoes
2 shallots, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

4 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs fresh herbs, finely chopped
(try a single herb or a combination of herbs: dill, mint, basil, thyme, cilantro, parsley, etc)

sea salt to taste

Pluck the stems off the tomatoes and rinse them. Add them to a heavy saucepan with a tight-fitting lid with the shallots, garlic, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1 cup water. Cook over medium high heat, paying attention to the sounds of the pot. Soon you will hear the tomatoes popping. Take a peek after a couple of minutes to make sure there is sufficient moisture. You do not want the tomatoes to scorch. After the skins have popped and the tomatoes have released their juices, lower the heat and cook for about 20 minutes keeping the lid on the pot.

While the soup is cooking combine the olive oil and finely chopped herbs. Mix well.

Run the tomatoes through a food mill or chinois. You will have about 2 cups of puree. Chill well and then taste for salt.
Spoon the soup into chilled cups, divide the infused oil among them and serve.

Serves 4-6

Note: Other varieties of tomatoes can be used for this soup, but the skin of Sun Gold tomatoes easily separates and is preferred. If you decide to use larger tomatoes, chop them first for quicker cooking time. Be sure to avoid getting seeds and skins into the soup when straining.