Greek Tomato Soup

A few years ago, our friend Joe gave us the Daily Soup Cookbook. Everything we've made from it is fantastic, but I wouldn't go looking for inspiration there on a weekday normally because - well, it's soup, and often that means an all-day wait. I knew I had to share this recipe when Tom made it on a Tuesday and mentioned that it was fast and easy. It's also vegetarian, and the kids loved it. (Milo cheered when he heard there were leftovers. I swear.)

The recipe calls for trahana pasta, but Tom used orzo. The feta snuggles in with the tomato, somehow cutting the acid but accentuating the piquant and adding richness of flavor. It took me a few minutes to figure out what that flavor was. 

Another thing about this dish. Cheap. We had garden tomatoes. If you make your own stock, I think you can serve this for about a dime a bowl. Maybe a quarter if you buy the fancy feta - but then you'll have leftover feta for the salad and extra dollars for the french baguette. Mmm.

Greek Tomato with Trahana Pasta [soup]

(from The Daily Soup Cookbook)

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 medium white onions, chopped 

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes, diced

8 cups Basic Vegetable Stock [make your own or canned - more on vegetable stock in an upcoming post]

2 ripe beefsteak tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 cup uncooked trahana pasta or couscous [we used orzo]

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese [2 tablespoons for the soup; the rest for garnish]

1/2 cup scallions [garnish]

1. Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and sugar and sweat for 4 minutes, until tender

2. Add the cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, and cinnamon and stir to coat.

3. Add the canned tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Add the stock, bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat, partially cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

5. Stir in the fresh tomatoes, pasta, and 2 tablespoons of the feta cheese; simmer for 2 minutes.

6. Remove from the heat and let stand 5 minutes.

7. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and top with the remaining feta cheese and chopped scallions. [cook's note - we skipped the extra feta cheese - it did not really need it.]

Makes 12 cups