roasted tomato & basil soup

plus a quick cover crop tutorial

HOT DANG, my summer season has officially wrapped up (!) and while I'm not planting a fall crop this year (ICYMI, an explanation of why is here), you better believe that I’m planning ahead to ensure that our soil doesn’t just sit bare for the next several months.

As a general rule, I never leave our beds empty for long, because bare soil will quickly become depleted of organic matter and key nutrients. So this week, I’m planting all our empty rows with buckwheat, a super easy, inexpensive, and *quick* summer / early fall cover crop that’s also great for pollinators.

You can absolutely employ cover crops even if you have a small raised bed garden… as long as you’re okay giving up some growing space for a few months to allow the cover crops to grow, be cut down, and then decompose back into the soil.

In case it’s helpful, here’s a quick buckwheat cover crop tutorial:

• First make sure your bed is cleared and weed-free… you don’t want your cover crop to compete with weeds!

• Use around 1 cup of buckwheat seeds for every 100 square feet (or 60 to 80 pounds per acre). For our 50-ft long (and 30” wide) beds, I broadcast about 15 cups of seed (I use a 32 oz yogurt cup to measure and spread the seeds). Our seed is sourced from Johnnys.

• Use a rake to gently cover the seeds with soil, then water everything deeply by hand or (if you have a bigger growing space) a cheap backyard sprinkler. Make sure to keep the soil well watered for several days to aid with germination.

• Buckwheat germinates quickly, and after 4-6 weeks (once all the pretty white flowers bloom), I use a weed whacker to cut everything down, and then I cover the rows with a black silage tarp for several weeks to allow the plant matter to decompose and feed organic matter back to the soil.

And just like that, you’ll have super happy and nutrient-rich beds ready for next season. No matter the size of your garden, cover cropping is a powerful way to drastically improve the health of your soil, and in turn, have healthier and more delicious plants. Have cover crop questions? Leave a comment and let me know!

Okay, enough soil talk, time to get cooking… keep reading for today’s recipe, an *instant classic* Roasted Tomato & Basil Soup.

With my busy farm season winding down, this week I was craving some serious comfort food. I also happen to be swimming in tomatoes and basil… so tomato & basil soup (with a super buttery grilled cheese on the side, obvi) was the correct and ONLY choice.

My take on tomato basil soup is super simple ingredient-wise, but there’s one secret to the method that kicks all the flavors up a notch… and that secret is roasting all the tomatoes in a hot oven with a bunch of oil and garlic for about 45 minutes, until everything is juicy and caramelized and luscious. I know it’s an extra step, but trust me on this one!

A FEW RECIPE NOTES:

• Use whatever variety of tomatoes you want. I personally like to use a mix of heirlooms, roma/paste, and cherry tomatoes… but feel free to go wild and use whatever you have.

• You’ll see in the recipe that I don’t bother with peeling the tomatoes beforehand (I truly cannot imagine a worse kitchen task than peeling a mess of scalding hot tomatoes..), and instead you just pour the soup through a fine mesh sieve after it’s been pureed, which leaves you with a super velvety smooth texture, with minimal fuss.

• This soup is fabulous served warm AND / OR chilled, so if you want to enjoy it on a ridiculously hot August afternoon, just pop it in the fridge for a few hours.

I’m already planning to make this soup again this weekend… except this time, I’m going to quadruple the recipe and freeze it in big mason jars, so when winter rolls around and I need some summer goodness in my belly, I can grab a jar from the freezer and be instantly transported back to this *exact moment* of wild + wonderful summertime deliciousness. Keep reading for the full recipe, plus a handy 1-page PDF version for easy printing.

PS – A reminder that while the majority of my newsletter every Friday is available for ALL to read, access to the *weekly recipe* is only available to paid subscribers (free subscribers get access to full recipes once a month, on the first Friday of the month).

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Roasted Tomato & Basil Soup

Serves 4