Simple roast tomato soup – iphone style
Some days are minestrone days. My favourite recipe takes the best part of a morning to make. Of course there’s the home made chicken stock as a base, then the vegetables have to be cut to just the right size and added separately so they have the correct texture at the end. There’s chopping of onions, dicing of carrots, trimming beans, shredding of cabbage, finding a rind or two of parmesan to give texture and more flavour, and a finish of freshly made pesto. When I have time there is nothing I like better to shut myself away in the kitchen in the pursuit of minestrone perfection – served with warm, crusty, home made bread of course.
On minestrone days, I’ll put a bowl aside for shooting later; I’ll search for the right lighting conditions in my house, choose a background, some props and garnishes, experiment with settings on my camera, try different angles to reflect the light. These shots will be downloaded, sorted, resized, edited, watermarked and uploaded here.
Then there are tomato soup days. Life has been pulling me in many directions lately and I still have the urge to put home made soup on the table to share with my family. I want to cook, photograph and write something to share, hence iphone tomato soup. I can shoot, edit, even watermark and upload in minutes – and the soup is pretty similar.
iphone roast tomato soup
- Cut some ripe tomatoes in half.
- Bake on a tray in a moderate oven for about an hour.
- Put in a Vitamix with about the same amount of water as tomatoes and a good quality organic vegetable stock cube*. Turn Vitamix to high for 5-6 minutes (until steam appears).
- Put a handful of fresh basil in and blend for 2 seconds.
*alternatively add some vegetable stock, blend until smooth in a liquidiser and heat gently in a saucepan.
My favourite iphone apps
The podcast app. I’m a podcast addict. Why just walk the dogs/ drive to a meeting/ do the supermarket shop when you could be entertained at the same time? (although I have been known to forget the beans if simultaneously doing the latter):
Sheila Dillon of The Food Programme is my food heroine; I feel that there is still a chance against Monsanto and Tesco while this entertaining, informative and eminently sensible programme continues. In Open Book, Mariella Frostrup talks to leading authors about their work; if there was the equivalent of a twinkle in your eye for the voice, she would have it. In A Good Read Harriett Gilbert asks people to discuss their favourite books. I love it when someone chooses a stinker – download from Books and Authors. Jameson Fink‘s interviews rattle along like a train, an unpretentious and wise train of wine. I also like the UK Wine Show (though give the two recent podcasts with Pascal Chatonnet a miss unless you are a real wine geek), Great Lives is always a rewarding listen and you know about my long standing addiction to The Archers….
Image apps. Snapseed is pretty incredible; auto-correct and add a frame or tinker around with dozens of adjustments until you are happy and you can share to everything.
However, adding text for another layer of interest is so simple with Over. I’m quite besotted by it. It would be churlish not to Instagram it wouldn’t it? I’ve been following a photo a day challenge set by Fat Mum Slim…
Note: To take a pic of your iphone4S screen , just press the home button (the round one under the screen at the bottom) and at the same time press the button on the top right, very quickly and simultaneously. I should think it’s similar for other models.
All pics in this article taken on my iphone. So what do you think? Are you a smart phone fan and what apps make your day/life easier? What recipe do you turn to when in need of cooking therapy but short of time?
Related articles
- Photo a day (fatmumslim.au.com)
- Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup with Parmesan (yummyfoodmadeeasy.wordpress.com)
- Roasted Tomato Rosemary Soup (bigapplebitesny.wordpress.com)
Trackbacks
- Lentil soup – simple, tasty, healthy, hearty and frugal | My Custard Pie
- A glance over my shoulder – top 10 posts of 2013 | My Custard Pie
- A frenzy of cheese, wine, cook books and foodie friends. Farewell 2013 | My Custard Pie
- Buying booze in the UAE | My Custard Pie
Comments are closed.
My Custard Pie 
I love the way your posts keep on re-inventing themselves and the myriad of topics they touch upon. I am all for comfort soups, I’m all for smart phones, I’m not so much into apps excepting perhaps Instagram, so this soup is mine:)
Thanks Ishita – and for being honest with me in person about this unconventional post….really appreciate the feedback.
You are most welcome Sally, but then it’s always nice to try unconventional ways. Meeting up with you is always so comforting – it’s like coming back home!
Love it Sally! I’m a big smartphone fan, and I use Snapseed, Hipstamatic, Phonto – for text. PS Express and of course Instagram.
Some more to investigate here Sarah…actually must check out Hipstamatic very soon.
I must say Sunday’s rain prompted me to put on a pot of soup as well, except mine was French Onion. Yours sounds and looks wonderful. I don’t own a Vitamix, would a regular blender work as well? Homemade minestrone and baked bread? You are such a pro, cheers to you!
Your soup looks really tempting and yes I am all for smart phones…sometimes pressed for time smart women need these to make their day easier:)
Yet another delicious, inspirational post Sally! Love learning about new apps to download – will be doing those today! My faves are instagram, instaframe and GPS for the Soul. And my quick and easy soup is also roasted tomato – with a combination of delicious Lebanese cherry tomotoes and bigger plum tomatoes. Love the sound of yours. Thank you for the gift of mycustardpie landing in my inbox every week!
So comforting and tasty! I wish I had an iPhone… 😉
Cheers,
Rosa
It’s a long story about how I got mine Rosa…I got it second-hand and the money went to help a charity. These gadgets are not inexpensive are they…
What a great roundup Sally. I like the look of snapseed, I will check it out.
You can even to spot brightening, saturation etc. with it. The auto function is very good….I could go on!
Great recipe! I will defo be trying out Snapseed – I hope they have it for android as well as iPhone!
It’s an app by Google so sure to…
I really must make some tomato soup like this, but our toms are so pathetic at this time of year I may have to wait a while. We eat a lot of soup when Ed pops home from the office for lunch, or for healthy-ish Weekend lunch times.
I think the iPhone pics are fab, I use Snapseed, but I must check out Over for text, not seen that yet.
We’re at peak season for tomatoes from the farmers’ market right now. The ripeness of the toms does make a difference. We’re a soup loving family too…
Wonderful post. I think I love the photos you took with your i phone with the tomatoes best. The style and colour of them are stunning. It’s always a joy to read your posts!
So kind 🙂
I don’t have an iPhone but I will definitely have your soup in my belly in a few days.
🙂 Mandy xo
Love this comment Mandy 🙂
Tomato soup tastes SO much better if you roast the tomatoes first. Your pics look lovely too – who wants to spend hours styling soup and letting it go cold when you can snap pretty pics on an iPhone?!
Yep – I don’t like cold food either…
Love your juxtaposition of traditional comfort cooking (roast tomatoes, minestrone & homebaked bread) and modern technology of iPhone apps. The tomato soup looks wonderful, keen to try when tomatoes in season at my local farm shop – quite a wait!
We’re counting down the weeks until our growing season ends now. I’m lucky to get a second go in UK in the summer.
Fun post! The soup looks fab and I love the iphone apps. I haven’t tried any though (not even instagram!) because I know I’ll go crazy with more photos but feel like I am already an addict with my real camera…
I know exactly what you mean…. Having a small camera in my pocket all the time has meant I take even more pics.
Love the soup but I’m a blackberry gal!
I was totally wedded to my BB – but have seen the light 🙂
looks great! it’s amazing what a little phone can do!
Great post! I’ve been resisting an iphone, but I think I may have to give in and buy one now 🙂
It’s like having a small computer with you all the time.
Yay, another Vitamix soup to try. I am in love with Hipstamatic and the David Loftus lens, takes a little getting used to, but it’s cool. I like Snaspeed, too. I took iphone pics at a farm this week, I might use them in a post. Hope you are all well x
Must look out for that lens…. shooting at night is more problematic. All well Ren thanks
I’ve been hearing so much about Snapseed that this is probably the push I need to investigate further. Or rather I will urge my daughter to mess around with it and teach me the quick and dirty way to use it. I too have an iPhone but I’m not much cop at photo apps, or any apps for that matter. I have trouble enough completing my ‘real’ work without adding fun things to my life that will draw my attention away. I sound so pathetic don’t I? One day…
PS images and soup look fab. PPS I finally got my own Vitamix so I am no longer jealous of your awesome FBC win 😀
Looking forward to seeing what you do with your Vitamix. And pathetic is about the last word on earth I’d ever associate with you Kellie….I don’t know how you do everything you do.
This looks absolutely delicious! I love the App recommendations too – I’ve been searching for some better ones, so I’ll definitely be trying Snapseed and Over thanks to you 🙂
Great pics with the I-phone Sally and a delish looking soup too…Love the roasted tomatoes…they sure add more flavor to the soup:))
Especially the super ripe ones from the farmers’ market…
I think it’s no secret I love instagram, I even like it better than twitter. I have more engagement from my followers on intagram than on twitter. I feel it’s more creative and creative people find eachother there too. Did I just hear your iphone pic got accepted on tastespotting? How marvelous, it proves you don’t need an expensive camera to take a gorgeous pic, just talent!
Ah – to have a little bit of the creative talent that you have my dear. But it does prove that sometimes we stress about the wrong things. Thanks for the thoughtful comment.
Wonderful Sally! this entertained me in the train this morning. oh and a special thanks for the app suggestions found a few I didn’t know.
hugs
Karin
Saw your traffic jam instagram of the day before. Glad you were able to relax a bit and thanks for reading 🙂
Your roasted tomato soup looks very inviting & is an eas to make! I love my Vitamix for that too! 🙂 Yumm! I will make this soup in Summer with my home grown tomatoes!
I must check out your Vitamix recipes
Yes!
This recipe is perfect for hot weather. I have to tray it next time.
I’ve only recently started using my iphone for blog pics and in fact my last two blog post had iphone pics. It’s just so simple and so much lighter than my SLR. I’m about to take a look at a couple of the apps you mention, sound really useful. As to the soup – we’re still in winter here – cold and wet so it’s soup all the way and tomato is always a favourite. Still envious of the Vitamix. Great radio 4 choices. GG
Love this combo of content Sally. I don’t have the patience for fancy cameras, with the added fact that in a restaurant I am reviewing incognito so need to be quick and discreet – and my iphone does the job. As for photo apps, I look for one that does it all (again lack of patience and time!) and Instagram does, as well as acting as a social media channel 🙂 Over sounds like a goodie will check it out. Thanks!
This makes me smile. I really enjoy seeing how you manage to coordinate your life into the blog and the posts are fantastic. I am still of the belief that while mobile photography is great and taking off so well for me nothing beats the feeling of holding a proper camera with a lens in the hand. I love my mobile phone for capturing images on the go and often they really are snapshots. I like this post because you show how versatile you are!
Really value this comment Meeta. I’ve loved my journey with my DSLR even though I’m still on the first steps. The utter concentration, the planning, the experimentation…all these things involved in using it for a food shot are part of a deeper creative process which I find so fulfilling. And meeting inspiring people like you on the way too.
We’ll try this soup today! Love Snapseed. I use Strip design for adding text, but will try your suggestion with Over. Thanks for sharing!
I’ll check out that one Pretty Easy Life
I just love, love, love this post!!
Thanks for the podcast shout-out. And I am downloading Over right now!
Hi Sally. Just to say I made tomato soup today in the Vitamix per your instructions. Although I wasn’t very generous with the tomatoes or the time for roasting, it was still very successful.So much body! I hadn’t yet made the leap to soups in it – scary! – but I can see for smaller amounts it will be fab. Thanks for the encouragement and the simple recipe. Next one will be courgette and cashew I think 😀
So glad Kellie,
I think the benefit of the Vitamix is that it whizzes up the cores and skins so effectively. It makes a beautiful smooth soup with a lovely texture. Looking forward to reading about courgette and cashew….I’m on a mission to get my vegetarian daughter to like courgettes in one way or another!
After a couple of months owning an iphone, I’ve just began downloading Apps! Instagram’s one of them. I’m looking forward to taking photos on the go like you – I love the soup, the colour and the way you’ve captured its essence, en place
Following your revieww, I’ve been trying to get hold of this book. Can you believe it’s out of print? Grrrrrrrr 😦
I am an Instagram addict!! I still remember my inordinate excitement the day I heard there was an Android version… Still need to explore Snapseed. Very impressed with these images – the iPhone does have an awesome camera. The HTC is fine in bright light but less so in low light….
yum it looks delish
Thanks for every other excellent post. The place else may anybody get that kind of info in such an ideal
manner of writing? I have a presentation next week,
and I am on the look for such info.
Wow thanks for the great tip win over and snap seed! That app is going to help me with work and blog!
I haven’t ventured beyond smoothies with my vitamix, but I want to try this soup.