feel food club

tomato recipe

Incredibly Quick & Easy Tomato Soup w/ Caramelised goats Cheese Bread

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Tomato soup in winter? Yes that’s possible – because we are using canned tomatoes! Don’t worry – it is at LEAST as delicious as the one with fresh tomatoes. Creamy, tangy and really easy. Plus, with the bread on the side you do not have your average one but a fancier (still super easy) version of it!

I, as a HUGE tomato lover (more like addict), have the hardest time in winter not eating everything with tomatoes. Tomatoes really are one of the things I miss most about summer! Anyway, we cannot have them fresh, but we can have the in their preserved way. Canned tomatoes are harvested when they are in season and then preserved in cans. Therefore you can enjoy them all year around, which is life-saving for tomato lovers like me.

What is special about this dish?

First of all it is made with canned not fresh tomatoes. Why? Tomatoes are not in season at this time of the year. You could still buy some but they are 1) not as tasty as in summer, 2) more expensive, 3) not good for the climate. Just because they are not in season right now, does not mean that we cannot enjoy some tomato soup – we just have to find other ways to make it! So we are using canned ones!

Plus we do not have some baguette to dip or some regular grilled cheese but a way fancier version of grilled cheese. Crispy wholegrain bread with goats cheese & honey straight out of the oven and still warm. This really goes perfectly with the creamy tomato sauce.

Is this dish healthy?

I would say so. We have got vitamins from the tomatoes, onions and garlic. Some carbs and fibre from the bread and some protein from the cream cheese. It definitely is no nutrient-bomb but it does provide your body with some essential nutrients! If you wanted to make it a bit more nutritious, you could serve it with a side salad!

How to make this?

Really, super easy!! It essentially comes down to frying some garlic, onion and herbs in some oil until golden. Then we only need to add some tomato paste, vegetable broth, canned tomatoes and some fresh herbs. This just simmers for about 15 minutes so it can absorb the flavours of the herbs. In the meantime we can prepare the bread.

Therefore we slice up the wholegrain bread and place it on a baking tray. To this we are adding some goats cheese. The creamier and fresher it is, the easier it is to spread on top of the bread, but here you can go for whatever you like most! Just add a drizzle of honey and bake it for about 10 minutes and that is it for the bread.

To finish off the tomato soup, we are now removing the herbs and adding it to a blender. To make it creamy and a bit tangy, we are also adding some ricotta cheese and a little touch of honey to recreate the sweetness of those beautiful summery honey tomatoes! Blend and serve!

Meal prep friendly and how to have it:

This really works great for meal prep or also for being made in a big batch. You can just make more servings, let it cool down and freeze it in Tupperware. Whenever you want to have some, just heat it up in a pot and you have got it ready in minutes.

The bread can not be meal-prepped but it really does not take very long to make 🙂 Beside the bread, I also love to serve it with some burrata cheese and balsamic vinegar!

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Incredibly Quick & Easy Tomato Soup w/ Caramelised goats Cheese Bread

Comforting, healthy, easy and super quick tomato sauce. Yes, you can have it in winter and it is really really good! Plus the caramelized bread with it is absolutely amaaazing!!!

Course Appetizer, dinner, Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 Minuten
Cook Time 15 Minuten
Total Time 30 Minuten
Servings 2 servings

What you will need

  • 1 yellow onion
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1.5 cans tomatoes
  • 500 ml vegetable broth
  • a few branches fresh oregano & thyme
  • 3 tbsp ricotta cheese
  • 2 slices whole grain bread
  • 4 tbsp goats cheese (the younger and fresher it is, the easier it is to spread)
  • 2 tbsp honey

How to

  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.

  2. Finely dice the onion and chop the garlic. Heat up the oil in a pot and sautée both of them in there for about 2-3 minutes until fragnant and glassy. Add the canned tomatoes, vegetable broth and fresh herbs and let simmer for about 15 minutes.

  3. In the meantime spread the bread slices with the goats cheese and drizzle about 1 tbsp of the honey onto them. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

  4. Remove the herbs from the tomato soup and either transfer them to a blender to blend with an immersion blender in the pot along with the ricotta.

  5. Divide onto bowls and serve with the bread! Enjoy!

I hope that you’ll enjoy this recipe and make it on repeat! It is super comforting, cozy and actually fairly easy! I would love to hear and see how you like it and am wishing you a fun time cooking!

Enjoy,
Love,
Katie

Italian Tomato and Eggplant Stew with fried Halloumi and Pita

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Fresh and sweet tomatoes with soft and slightly mushy eggplant plus tangy capers and olives. Oh, and not to forget about the good herbs and the Goey fried halloumi with fresh pita. Hard not to get hungry when reading this right?!

To be honest I have never had Halloumi until a few months ago. I spent a day with my besties in Bratislava and we were so tired after this super long day and went into a super cute little café. We just ordered some small snack like avocado toast and a greek bowl and in this bowl there was halloumi. And let me tell you, I instantly loved it. Maybe it is because I am a huge salt-addict (I know, that’s not very healthy but I just love it). Halloumi is pretty salty but tbh, that makes it real good right?

What goes well with Halloumi?

So I believe that everything that is with Mediterranean flavours goes super well with it! And everything with lots of herbs because herbs + halloumi is just the best combination. It tastes really yum with tomatoes, cucumber, olives, eggplant (=aubergine). Also, this might sound a little weird but believe me, it is also really good with oriental things like curry, hummus, falafel. Yes curry and halloumi goes with with each other. Might sound a little off but it is really good. If you want another halloumi recipe you can check out my Honey Eggplant and Chickpea Salad with Grilled Halloumi because that’s also really good!

Why Eggplant & Tomato?

Well because this combination with Halloumi is just so good. And Eggplant works so well in stews because it has a rather soft texture and makes it a little creamy-ish. Also it adds such a nice flavour. And tomatoes are always good. Especially in sauces or stews they are a must! They kind of build a „base“ for it and makes it saucy. And they are coming into season, so why not?

Fresh or canned tomatoes?

This really is up to you. They both work perfectly fine. If they are in season and you have them on hand, I would always recommend using fresh produce! But if you used canned ones make sure they are not all puréed. The best is if you mix them both. So use some fresh ones and some puréed sauce. That way you get some texture and sauciness. All the good things in it.

30-minute meal

You thought this couldn’t get any better? Well, it can! Because this comes together in less than 30 minutes. I know, so easy. Which means, it is perfect for a quick and healthy lunch or a cozy and simple dinner. Also, making it is not complicated at all! Actually the opposite is the case. It essentially comes down to chopping the ingredients and throwing them all together into a pot plus frying the halloumi in an extra pan. Yes, that simple.

What to have it with

Pita is my favourite go-to here because it is perfect to soak up the sauce and it has such a nice texture and taste. But if you do not like it or are intolerant to gluten or cannot find a good one you can also substitute it out for other things. Something like Quinoa, Pasta, Couscous or Rice would also work really well here. If you want to on the lighter side, you can also just serve it with a salad, which also is really good!

This is such a tasty meal for whenever you ar craving something comforting but healthy. Comes together really quick, is super family friendly, has lots of vitamins (& cheese ofc) and tastes amazing!

I hope that you will love this recipe as much as I do and that it will become a staple in your household!

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Italian Tomato and Eggplant Stew with fried Halloumi and Pita

Healthy, comforting and so full of flavor. A 30-minute, super quick and good weeknight dish!

Course bowl, dinner, lunch, Main Course
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 20 Minuten
Total Time 30 Minuten
Servings 4 servings
Calories 456 kcal

What you will need

  • 1 red onion
  • 1 tbsp Olive Oil
  • 650 g Eggplant about 2 medium sized ones
  • 300 g tomatoes fresh ones (best is a mxi of large ones and cherry tomatoes)
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 200 g canned tomatoes (puréed)
  • 2 tbsp rosemary
  • 2 tbsp oregano
  • juice from 1/2 lemon
  • 60 g Capers about 3-4 tbsp
  • 40 g Olives about 3 tbsp, sliced olives
  • 300 g Halloumi
  • 2 Pita

How to

  1. Finely dice the onion. Heat up the olive oil in a pan and add the onion when hot. Sautée for about 2 minutes until fragnant.

    In the meantime chop the eggplant and tomatoes into about 2 cm sized chunks or half the cherry tomatoes, if using. Add them into the pan and sautée for another 2 minutes on high heat. Reduce the heat to medium high and stir in the tomato paste and sauce and the herbs. Let simmer for 10 minutes and then add in the juice from half a lemon, the capers, olives, some freshly cracked black pepper and some salt. Let simmer for another 10 minutes.

    While this is simmering slice the halloumi into about 1/2 cam thick slices. Place them on a grill or a preheated (grill)pan and fry them on medium high heat for about 3 minutes on each side until golden brown.

    Heat up the Pita in the oven.

    When everything is ready add the stew onto the plates and place the fried halloumi on top. Serve with the fresh pita and enjoy!

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière <3