Fresh Tomato Soup With Basil and Farro
- Total Time
- 1½ hours
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1½tablespoons plus ½ teaspoon kosher salt, more as needed
- 1½cups farro
- 3large sprigs basil, stems and leaves separated
- 3tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling
- 4garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
- 1large leek, white and light green parts only, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
- 3¼pounds ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into wedges
- Black pepper, to taste
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
268 calories; 8 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 44 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams dietary fiber; 10 grams sugars; 9 grams protein; 741 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Pour 8 cups cold water and 1½ tablespoons salt into a pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower heat to medium, add the farro and basil stems, and cook until grains are tender but still a little chewy, about 25 minutes. Drain, reserving the liquid.
- Step 2
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant and golden, about 2 minutes. Stir in the leek and a pinch of salt. Reduce the heat to medium and cook leeks until soft, about 5 minutes.
- Step 3
Stir in the tomatoes, ½ teaspoon salt and 1 cup reserved cooking liquid. Bring to a simmer. Cook until the tomatoes have completely fallen apart, about 30 minutes.
- Step 4
Using an immersion blender, blender or food processor, purée the tomato mixture until smooth (you may have to do this in batches). Add half the farro and pulse until the grains are broken down and the soup is a chunky purée. Stir in the remaining farro. If the soup seems thick, add more cooking liquid. Taste and add more salt if needed. Ladle the soup into serving bowls. Drizzle with oil; top generously with black pepper and torn basil leaves.
Private Notes
Comments
So you don't remove the tomato skins or seeds?
That's why you use an immersion blender. The skin is full of vitamins and if you aren't troubled by seeds, so are they.
I agree that there is way more farro than needed. I wound up using only half the cooked farro and I still needed to add quite a bit of extra cooking liquid to get the consistency even remotely soup-like (and I love very thick chunky soup). But very tasty all in all. Grated some parmigiano reggiano over the top as well.
So many unnecessary steps that didn’t make the soup any better. Way too much farro. Good thing I saved all of the broth. I needed to add much more than the recipe called for. Using the stalks instead of just adding the leaves to the tomatoes didn’t add much more flavor. If you’re recommending fresh tomatoes, you’d better explain to people how to squeeze the tomatoes to remove the seeds.
This recipe says that it yields six small servings. So, I doubled the recipe and ended up with enough soup for 20 people.
This soup is delicious. I substituted barley for the farro because I had that on hand. I previously roasted and froze my summer tomatoes specifically for soup recipes. I used half the amount of barley and didn't add any of the barley liquid. I also added red chili flakes fresh ground pepper and flaky sea salt. Very filling and perfect!