roasted tomato & eggplant soup

the ideal *vibe* for riding out tropical storm Debby

Remember last Friday, when I was complaining about getting 6” of rain over the course of a week? Well, Mother Nature was like, HOLD MY BEER, and just dumped 6” of rain in the past 24 HOURS with the arrival of tropical storm Debby – so yeah, that’s been exciting. The rain is just starting to let up, and in a bit I’ll pull on my boots and venture out into the garden to assess the damage. I can already see from my window that our second succession of corn was completely blown over, the trellis holding up our pole beans collapsed, and a good chunk of our basil plants were knocked down – but hopefully the rest of the damage is minimal. (And sending all the good vibes to all the farmers out there who are dealing with serious flooding and damage from the storm).

And I wanted to say a quick word of thanks for all the support and kind notes after my announcement last week that I’m pausing our CSA for at least a year so I can focus more of my energy on our young family. I heard from so many of you, especially fellow working moms, and it was incredibly encouraging to know that I’m not alone. I believe there’s a season for everything, and right now is a season for me to really pour into our family (while still pursuing my work.. just not quite as intensely). If anything, I’m even more energized to show up here every week with new recipes, cooking lessons, garden tutorials, and stories from our farm – so thank you for being here and sticking with me through what’s been a whirlwind past few months.

Tuesday marked the FINAL week of our 10-week Summer CSA… hallelujah, we made it! This is the 4th season growing on this land, and this summer has been our most abundant and successful to date. It’s exciting to see how our soil improves every year, and then to observe how our soil nourishes the plants and results in crops that are resilient and highly productive. That’s not to say that we didn’t have failures – our corn was a total loss this year (due to pollination issues and the kernels rotting in the husks with all the rain), I didn’t do a great job of consistently watering our cucumbers which resulted in bitter cukes, and several sections of the farm got overwhelmed by weeds. Every season has its successes and challenges and lessons learned the hard way, and I’m already looking forward to trying again next season – just on a smaller scale!

To see what we put in our CSA boxes this week, here’s a snapshot of what our large-share members received: Italian sweet bell peppers, cayenne peppers, garlic, onions, basil, eggplant, okra, cherry tomatoes, heirloom/slicer tomatoes, green tomatoes, and new potatoes. Proud to go out with a bang!

Need some culinary inspiration for the weekend? Here’s my weekly round up of seasonal recipes from around Substack (and my ever-growing recipe index) to help you eat like a farmer:

• Crispy roasted okra with romesco sauce from yours truly :)

• Sungold tomato butter sauce from

  Molly Reeder
  /
  Waxing and Weaving

• Baba ganoush from

  Mark Diacono
  /
  Mark Diacono's Garden To Table

Keep reading for today’s recipe for roasted tomato & eggplant soup, available for paid subscribers.

I have a feeling that lots of you are also stuck inside thanks to tropical storm Debby, so how about a nice summer soup to keep us cozy?

Tomatoes + eggplant are a classic summer combo (maybe the best summer combo)? I love that when eggplant is cooked, it transforms into something meltingly sweet and caramelized, which pairs beautifully with juicy, tangy/sweet ripe tomatoes and some fresh basil.

This soup is a riff on one of my favorite summer recipes – creamy late summer pasta with basil & walnuts – this pasta sauce is so freaking good I’d get caught eating it straight with a spoon, so I figured I might as well turn it into a soup! There aren’t many ingredients in either of these recipes, so it really helps if you can source the best eggplant / tomatoes / basil / olive oil / etc that you can get your hands on.

I worked hard to make this soup very simple to cook, with minimal dishes to clean. Most of the ingredients are combined on a rimmed baking sheet and roasted until everything is tender and caramelized, and then you just throw everything in a blender with a few cups of stock (or water) and some aromatics, blend until smooth and creamy, and that’s IT.

This soup can be enjoyed warm or chilled, and it’s especially lovely with some crusty sourdough bread (and a good book on the couch while the rain pours outside). Happy cooking and stay safe out there!

Keep reading for the full recipe (and a handy 1-page PDF for easy printing).

---

Become a paid subscriber to access today’s recipe (free subscribers get access to recipes on the 1st Friday of the month). As a paid subscriber, you’ll also get access to my full recipe archive, gardening guides, plus bonus content and join our private community chats.

Roasted Tomato & Eggplant Soup

Serves 4