We had about a cup of roasted tomato puree leftover from making that Moroccan-inspired salmon the other night. I really wanted to use it to make golden tomato soup for lunch to serve with sourdough grilled cheese sandwiches, but there wasn’t quite enough, so I stretched it a bit further with the addition of some chicken stock and a splash of cream, and gave it bulk with pearl barley and the last of my purple hull peas. I also enhanced the yellow coloring with a sprinkle of turmeric and a contrasting garnish of paprika and black lava salt. Talk about a bowlful of sunshine—always a welcome sight as we move into autumn with its shorter days and cloudy skies.

Jeremy was not very excited at the prospect of soup for lunch, particularly when I mentioned that I had thrown in a little pearl barley. But he quickly came around and said it was much tastier than he had anticipated, a perfect sop for grilled cheese after a busy morning doing yardwork and volunteering at the community garden.

Golden Tomato Soup: A Method

Combine about 1 C roasted tomato puree (mine was a blend of golden heirloom and cherry tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, onion, garlic) with 3 C homemade chicken stock, 1 C shelled purple hull peas, and 2 T pearl barley. Bring to a simmer and cook until the beans and barley are tender, about 45 minutes, adding more stock if the barley absorbs too much. Then add 1/3 C heavy cream, a sprinkle of turmeric powder, plus garlic powder, salt and pepper to your taste. Garnish if desired with a dash of sweet paprika, chipotle powder, and/or a pinch of flaky finishing salt.