Barbara Kafka's Moroccan Tomato Soup

Quick, quick! There's a break in sight. The temperature's 10 degrees cooler than it was yesterday. Now's your chance. Swing on your bike, get to the market. Buy a couple of pounds of tomatoes, the redder the better. Do you have parsley or cilantro? Good. Fennel or celery? Only if it's lying around in your crisper, don't bother buying more. Ooh, there's the Turkish bakery stand selling small loaves of its soft, chewy pide bread, the black nigella seeds on top the best part. Sure, get a round of that, too.

Bike home again, bag swinging against your legs. A cool breeze might even form. Soak it all in, tomorrow you'll be hiding indoors again.

At home, pull out your mother's food mill that you believe is older than you. Try to mill the first chopped tomatoes, turn the handle jankily, feel your temperature rise, give up. Your fuse is too short these days, forgive yourself. So the recipe says to peel and seed the tomatoes. Doesn't Barbara Kafka know that tomato seeds are sometimes the best part? Go about chopping the tomatoes by hand. Peel a few with a y-peeler, then stand around chewing on tomato peels for a bit. Lose interest in the peeling. That's alright. Some days, a recipe is just there for inspiration.

Put a bunch of spices to warm in a pan. Oh! There's that little frying pan you thought you'd lost in the move! Sitting right there...in the frying pan drawer. Oh well, sometimes you look for milk in the fridge for half an hour before realizing it's right in front of you. You're supposed to add garlic, but for some reason there's none in the house. This must be the heat, you figure, addling your mind. Who doesn't always have a few cloves of garlic lying around? Okay, so you use a shallot finely diced instead. This turns out to be more than fine, delicious even.

Paprika, cayenne, cumin - hot colors fusing together into a muddled brown, the kitchen filling with fragrance. Even though the recipe says an immersion blender is too much, you use an immersion blender, just a few pulses, to chop the tomatoes a little more. You leave it chunky, though, just as Barbara says to, and stir in the spiced shallot. Forget about the celery, or the fennel, which was your inspired idea for a celery substitution. Who wants to chop anything more than a few tomatoes? Not you.

In goes a little vinegar, a squeeze or two of lemon, chopped parsley because cilantro is too hard to find and did you already mention your short fuse? Be kind to yourself today. A few stirs with the spoon and soon you're sitting at the table, slurping spoonfuls of cold soup, dunking Turkish bread into the bowl. Who cares that you gave up with the tomatoes after about five and that the spice mixture is meant for over two pounds? This means the soup is humming, the spices vibrant in your mouth and throat. Maybe it's a little too strong, but it doesn't really matter. You eat in big spoonfuls anyway, grateful for the kick of flavor, the faint numbing of your lips. You feel your inner temperature, the knot of frustration and the sweat at your temples subside.

Tomorrow will be hot again, there might only be salads and cold yogurt and more complaining on the horizon. But today you have cold Moroccan tomato soup, a faint breeze and that will have to do.

Moroccan Tomato Soup
Serves 1
Note: The original recipe is here and is probably far more balanced and mild than what I ended up with. I practically licked my plate, though. Below will serve one person in need of something cool, spicy and calming for lunch in an irritatingly hot clime.

1 shallot, minced fine
2 1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
Large pinch of cayenne pepper
4 teaspoons olive oil
1.5 pounds tomatoes, cored, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/4 cup packed chopped cilantro or parsley leaves
1 teaspoon white-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. In a small saucepan, stir together the shallot, paprika, cumin, cayenne and olive oil. Place over medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

2. Put the chopped tomatoes with their juice in a large bowl. Pass an immersion blender through once or twice, leaving most of the tomatoes still chunky. Stir in the cooked spice mixture, the cilantro, vinegar, and lemon juice. Taste for salt. Eat immediately.

Comments

[candybeans]

last night i nearly wept with joy when i felt the first cool breeze here in DAYS. this sounds like the tomato soup i was destined to meet, not the sweet canned version that everyone tells me i'm supposed to like. maybe with the addition of some cool diced cucumbers? i'm going to venture out into the slightly-more-merciful weather for spices while i have the chance.

[ahmet cihat toker]

"cilantro is too hard to find"

the turkish supermarkt at u-bhf bismarckstr. has fresh cilantros all the time.

[Luisa]

Ahmet - thanks for the tip! As I think the post might have implied, I wasn't much in the mood for hunting for ingredients yesterday. :)

[Mark @ Cafe Campana]

I love the flavours in this. I don't think I would be able to eat normal tomato soup again.

[newlywed]

This looks so good! I can't wait to try it!

[Foodieinberlin]

No cook recipes are the way to go these days. Although last night I flaked out and had some sourdough with smoked cheese and tomatoes. I found a seemingly delicious recipe from Giorgio Locatelli: Spaghetti al crudo in my Summer Recipes (from the Guardian newspaper in the UK) supplement that I received in the post today. Here is the link http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/03/summer-recipes-seafood (you have to scroll down to the bottom)
You mention going to the market in your blog, are there farmer markets here in Berlin?

[littleclove]

I have 4 very ripe tomatoes on my counter just begging me to make this. And the best part is that I have everything I need! I'm going to try this for lunch today.

I roasted and entire chicken yesterday in 90 heat, what was I thinking? OK, it was delicious and the oven was only on for an hour, but THIS will be great with my COLD chicken sandwich today. ;-)

[Jen]

I just used my 5 tomatoes to make a vegetable pie that I posted in my blog last night! It seems like now that tomato season is in full swing, all I can think about are ways to eat tomatoes. Cold soup sounds divine.

[Maddie]

I was smiling ear-to-ear last night when the skies erupted into a torrential downpour. So nice to have a little respite from the heat, and to spend it with a bowl of something cold but still spicy.

[Caitlin @ Amuse-Bouche]

This looks great! I've been living off of chilled soups in this weather but want something a little bit more spice. I'm anxious to try this recipe.

[Joanne]

I don't know about tomato soup, but I think this would make for an awesome fusion style tomato sauce over pasta! Love the spices.

[shannalee]

Oh, I love your posts. Your writing is truly beautiful and seems so effortless. Looking forward to your book!

[Adriana from Baking Powders]

this is pretty much my dream come true! i love tomatoes in any shape, form, combination... and it cooled down 10 degrees here today! must make this for dinner!

[Acapriciouscook.wordpress.com]

Luisa, this looks divine! Made my mouth water. I can't wait to try it myself.

[Gillordeincatering.wordpress.com]

Yum! I always chuckle to myself when I think of things that echo " A dish best served cold". I know I've just made myself sound like a mad cartoon villan but still the comic relish with which you can utter the phrase when serving this dish make it a goer from the start! Thanks for sharing :)

[Lady Gouda]

LOVED this post. This is the way I often cook, makes me smile that you do too! I will make this asap, especially when I wind up with way too many tomatoes from the market (which obviously will happen soon...can't help myself, when those naughty things start showing up at the market looking all red and plump and juicy like that!)

[Amanda at Enchanted Fig]

Have I mentioned yet that your blog is the first of its kind that I actually read? I mean, I read the entire post. Not just the recipe, not just the five second glance. I read it all. I'll tell you it is because your writing is (for once in this quickie internet world) appealing to my sense of aesthetic.

And, bravo, there are many food blogs out there, and many seem to be trying to prove something. Thanks for at least not seeming like it and in the process, proving that this odd cyber-genre is worth its salt.

Your day is familiar, your cooking a comfort, and your sense of spontaneity (the modified cold Moroccan soup) puts my own overheated-short-fused self at ease.

Thanks.

[zuza]

Mmm that looks amazing, though i may save it for end of summer/ beginning of autumn. And here's a cold soup for those hot hot days (it reminds me a bit of gazpacho except it's made with beetroot):

http://cheesy-mash.blogspot.com/2010/07/chlodnik-recipe.html

zx

[margie]

I recently found tomatoes for a wonderful price (almost-too-ripe Romas, five pounds for a dollar), and bought about 8 pounds. I ended up making a big batch of Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce with butter and onion to have on hand, and the rest I used for a big batch of our famous roasted chile salsa.

I had a few more tomatoes from my garden that needed to be eaten ... but I made panzanella again. Now I wish I'd waited another day and made cold tomato soup!

By the way, just think of leaving the celery out as being more traditionally Moroccan; as I can attest to after trying to make American-style bread stuffing there, celery is very hard to find, and the stuff they do use is wild, thorny, spindly stuff with an intense flavor :)

[The Rowdy Chowgirl]

Loved this post, and the soup looks utterly perfect for a summer day!

[Rachel @ Working Out Wellness]

Yum! This looks really tasty. I don't know if I've ever had a "Moroccan" soup or anything else for that matter.

[Luisa]

Foodieinberlin - that recipe looks incredible. Thanks for telling me about it, I can't wait to try! And yes, there are many farmer's markets in Berlin. My favorites are at Winterfeldtplatz, Karl-August Platz, Wittenbergplatz and Boxhagener Platz, but that's just a small selection of what's out there!

Littleclove - brave woman! I kind of wish I had some cold chicken lying around.

Shannalee - thank you!!

Amanda - my goodness, thank you so much! I am so flattered.

Zuza - that sounds delicious. And chlodnik is ringing such a bell for me, I think I read about it in a novel once.

[Kausambi (ColoredGrains)]

Perfect for dinner...

And Luisa, what lovely colour!!!

-
Kausambi
http://coloredgrains.wordpress.com

[LimeCake]

that looks incredible! i'm freezing in Australia right now and i'm wondering if this'd be good warm...

[Jessica]

This looks so good. I can't wait to give it a try. Thanks for sharing with us, and hope you get to enjoy more good weather.

[Marina]

You're a sweet lady! I so enjoy reading you.

[Rose-Anne]

Oh my gosh, I loved this post! You sound like me in the kitchen--I bet we'd get along well in real life :-) And I love Moroccan-spiced tomato soups--those sweet/savory spices really get along well with tomatoes.

[noëlle {simmer down!}]

Mmm, I love intensely-flavored foods like this. This is a great object lesson for anyone who thinks they need to slavishly follow a recipe.

I'm picturing this with a small dollop of yogurt, and getting very hungry.

[Nuts about food]

Cooked that octopus dish as promised on July 6th, hehe!
Will definitely try this too, sounds delicious.

[Pru Borland]

I was delighted to find a while back that Barbara Kafka has a blog. Updated only sporadically, it's called Food Talk with Barbara Kafka.

[Rebecca]

I love that I'm not the only person who cooks like this!! It looks wonderful!

[Clara]

Hooray, you found the pan!

[amelia]

i love this post. we're having a heat wave in L.A. and as I was washing what seemed like the 100th dish of the day and my hands were sweating inside of my dishwashing gloves and the sweat was rolling down my face, I leaned my face forward and totally dunked my face in the cold water. It was heavenly.

[sara]

Looks great.... tastes even better. Tried this recipe last night .. scrumptious.

Sara

http://www.momentsofelegance.com

[jean]

It must have made your kitchen smell incredible!

[MollyCookie]

That soup looks amazing!

[Jessika]

I've been cooking everything chilly that I can think of. Garlic soup, avocado soup, creme vichyoisse, then days with sandwiches with tsatskiki and the only pasta salad that I like. When the heat broke for a while the other night I quickly made warm potato salad with a vinaigrette over the mayo version.

[Nico]

And...Panini and Chinotto!!

[radish]

So funny, I was looking at my spreadsheet of things to cook and their respective URL's and this soup popped up and then I thought, didn't' Luisa just make it? Looks lovely!!

[indianglobtrotter]

Love this recipe..can't wait to try it. I also love makeing Harira and elements of that soup could be combined with yours. I use a handfull of flat green lentils and 2 tsp of ginger powder. Definitely try it with the ginger powder if nothing else, it adds a deep musky flavor.

[Natalie Sztern]

I loved this: you and I have similar writing styles and if I can laugh at a post, it makes reading it all that much more fun. So thanks this was good

[Jennifer @ Maple n Cornbread]

This soup is fabulous! I love the moroccan spices and fresh tomatoes!

[Renee]

I made this last night after a very brasen 1-lb heirloom tomato subjected me to harassment all day at work. Even with some substitutions that made this soup closer to the original (garlic instead of shallots, and I added the celery back in), I adored the bold flavor. I will be making this again soon!