Soup Recipes Using Your Garden Produce!

Roasted Heirloom Tomato and Pepper Soup

Thank you to Dave Swanson from Braise Culinary School for his recipe donation.

  • 4 pounds heirloom tomatoes, cored and cut in half
  • 2 onions (sweet), peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices
  • 1/2 pound heirloom Italian red peppers
  • 1 Ancho chile, cleaned
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 Serrano chile pepper, seeded
  • 1 bunch basil
  • 1 quart vegetable stock
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons salt
  • 2 cups olive oil

Grill the tomatoes, onions, and peppers until tender and slightly charred, remove from heat. Grill the ancho chile until soft and pliable, put with tomato mixture. Cook first six ingredients in 1 cup of olive oil, until completely soft. Add basil and cook for 5 minutes. Add stock and bring to boil, pull off heat. Put all ingredients in blender except olive oil. (May need to work in batches) Blend until smooth. While blender is running, slowly add the remaining 1c. of olive oil. Pass through a medium strainer. For a vegan soup, serve as is. For a vegetarian soup, use garnish below.

Garnish

  • 1/4 pound Hidden Springs cheese
  • 1/2 bunch cilantro, rough chop
  • 2 limes, juiced
  • Salt

Combine ingredients together, check seasoning and set aside.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

This recipe is from The Dinner Garden kitchen. The secret of this soup is the stock. Don't get me wrong, it will be really good with purchased stock, but with homemade stock, it is amazing. Using homemade stock is also cheaper than buying it. Here's the short version of the stock. Roast a chicken or turkey with carrots, celery, onions, garlic, and a bunch of herbs, like rosemary, thyme, sage, and oregano. Toss your vegetables and herbs with salt, pepper, and some oil. Use enough vegetables to line the bottom of a pan and stuff the chicken or turkey. Rub oil all over the chicken or turkey and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Place the bird on top of the vegetables in the pan, breast side up. Roast the chicken at 400 F degrees for about 50 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 160 F degrees. Start the turkey at 400 F degrees for the first 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 325 F degrees. Roast until the internal temperature reaches 155 F degrees. Eat the chicken or turkey with your roasted vegetables for dinner. Make gravy with the pan drippings. Save the bones, herb remains, and the vegetables you don't eat for your stock. Place those in a big pot. Cover them with cold water, so the water is two inches above all the stuff in your pot. Add 2 teaspoons of salt to the pot. Bring to a boil then simmer over low heat for at least three hours. After three hours, taste the stock. It shouldn't taste watery, so if it does, cook it longer. When the stock is done, add salt to taste. Cool and use in your recipes, like the Broccoli Cheddar Soup that now follows.

Broccoli Chedder Soup
  • 1 cup onions, chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • 16 ounces broccoli, chopped (fresh is best, but frozen is good)
  • 6 cups chicken or turkey stock
  • 1 cup milk
  • 4 Tbsp all purpose flour
  • 3 cups shredded medium to sharp cheddar cheese
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Saute onions and garlic in butter in a deep pot until translucent. Add chopped broccoli. Add chicken or turkey stock. Cook for 20 minutes on medium heat. Mix milk and flour in a blender until smooth. Add milk and flour mixture to the pot. Puree the soup until it is smooth. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring regularly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add cheese to the soup and stir until the cheese is blended. Let the soup cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serve the soup with crusty bread. Serves 6.

Apple-Rutabaga Soup with Caramelized Apples

The Dinner Garden is extremely lucky to have received the amazing recipes below from Chef Mayet Cristobal.

  • 1 lb rhutabaga, peeled and rough chopped
  • 1/2 lb green apples, rough chopped
  • 1 medium yellow onion, rough chopped
  • 1 carrot, rough chopped
  • 8 cups vegetable stock
  • 2 oz. butter
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 apple, small diced 1/8"
  • 3/4 creme fraiche, whipped
  • 2 Tbsp. Brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • to taste salt and pepper

To make soup, heat up large pot and add butter. Sweat onion, carrot, apples, and rhutabaga. Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 20 minutes.

Use an immersion blender to blend large chunks and then move liquid to a countertop blender to puree smoothly. Season with salt and pepper and add cream. Keep warm and set aside.

For the apples, heat olive oil in a medium saute pan. Add apples and brown sugar so that they caramelize, about 5 minutes. Add balsamic vinegar and let cook until absorbed, about 5 more minutes.

To serve, ladle 8 ounces of hot soup in a shallow bowl and garnish with creme fraiche and the caramelized apples.

Green Gazpacho


  • 2 each English cucumber
  • 1 head romaine lettuce
  • 2 each green bell pepper
  • 1 bunch green onions washed very well
  • 1 bunch Cilantro washed very well
  • 1/2 cup rice vinegar
  • 4-5 tbsp good olive oil
  • 1 tsp toasted cumin
  • Dash of cayenne
  • Salt and pepper

Chop all of the ingredients, a rouch chop will do. Everything is going into the blender and will be pureed and strained. The key to this soups success is extremely fresh ingredients.