Here is the Fresh Tomato Soup Recipe as I made it for this group, which was essentially tripling the recipe on my web site so that it would serve 10-12 easily:
3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped (about 1 cup chopped) - I use yellow onions from our garden
3 garlic cloves, chopped small - from our garden
3 carrots, chopped small
2 sweet red peppers, chopped small
3 Tbsp. whole wheat flour
12 cups peeled and chopped tomatoes - a variety of heirloom tomatoes from our garden
9 cups tomato juice (homemade by putting stewed tomatoes through a food mill but purchased juice would work)
3 Tbsp. tomato paste (homemade, but store-bought is fine)
1/2 tsp. salt (omit if using store-bought tomato juice)
Fresh basil, chopped fine to use as garnish
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
Heat olive oil over medium high setting. Add chopped onions and garlic to heat for a few minutes (be careful not to burn the garlic). Chop remaining vegetables by hand or in a food processor (I used the food processor) and then add to onions and garlic. Heat through for a few minutes until just starting to soften. Add the whole wheat flour, stir, and cook for a few minutes. Then add the tomatoes, heating until tomatoes soften and just start to fall apart. At this point, I carefully put about half the soup into my blender (it will be hot) in batches so that the blender is never more than half full. Puree those vegetables and put back into the soup pot. Then add the tomato juice and tomato paste and cook on a simmer until everything is heated through. Add salt to taste. Serve either with a sprinkle of basil or cheese (or both).
I don't remember which blessing I chose to start our book club meal. So instead I'll close with a food blessing that a friend had picked out to read as the grace before the dinner at her daughter's wedding reception last weekend. She forgot to bring the book to the reception so instead said a beautiful blessing totally from the heart (the only wedding reception blessing I've ever heard that thanked the farmers for growing our food) but later gave me a copy of what she had intended to say. Here it is:
As we begin this meal with grace,
Let us become aware of the memory
Carried inside the food before us:
The quiver of the seed
Awakening in the earth,
Unfolding in a trust of roots
And slender stems of growth,
On its voyage to harvest,
The kiss of rain and surge of sun;
The innocence of animal soul
That never spoke a word,
Nourished by the earth
To become today our food;
The work of all the strangers
Whose hands prepared it,
The privilege of wealth and health
That enables us to feast and celebrate.
~~John O'Donohue in To Bless the Space Between Us, Doubleday, 2008
Weddings are some life's most treasured moments, indeed they are true wealth. I feel so fortunate and count my blessings to have the health that allowed me to travel to this lovely wedding last weekend surrounded by very good friends! The friends at this wedding took care of me, my husband, and my children (who were ages 7 and 2) during my 9 months of chemotherapy in 1984-85. As I was recovering after completing chemotherapy, I realized that I could never, ever repay in kind all the countless ways these friends helped my family. I actually remember the instant when I first really understood the concept of "paying it forward". I have never forgotten the love and support these friends showed me and my family during those long and very difficult months, and I have kept their love in my heart, paying it forward ever since.
Diana Dyer, MS, RD