Tomato Egg Drop Soup
Hey! I'm back this week with a recipe! Before I get to this beautiful soup, tell me about your weekend! Is it Fall where you are? I spent my weekend catching up with life, organizing my mini studio post craft fair, testing baking experiments, and taking Reuben to the emergency room. Reuben roughed himself up pretty good in a mountain biking accident on Saturday -_- A patch of rocks caused him to fly over his handlebars and land right on his shoulder. He's mostly fine, but he can't take out the trash or open jars for me right now. We'll survive!
Indian Summer is still in full swing here in San Francisco. Hot and sunny. That hasn't stopped Trader Joe's from being filled to the brim with pumpkin things. It's everywhere and I'm having mixed feelings about it. Are there not other fall flavors that we can celebrate? What happened to the sweet potato? What about cardamom? Can persimmons become a bigger thing? I'm going to make persimmons a bigger thing. I think I'm going to try to not make anything with pumpkin this season. I'm going to eat all the pumpkin pie, pumpkin rolls, lattes, and cookies if they are in front of me. Duh. But I'm going to do my best to explore the other fall flavors out there!
I'll be heading home to Cleveland on Thursday. I'm so excited! It's going to be slightly chilly and Fall-ish. On the itinerary is apple picking, Apple Cart soft serve (the best!), and apple galette making. Oh, and dim sum and copious eating... that goes without saying. I'll fill you in on all the Ohio delights when I get back!
Okay, are you ready for some soup? First, confession-time. I was a pretty picky eater when I was little. Actually, hold up. I feel like in comparison to the average child of the Midwest, I was actually a pretty good eater. My diet as a child consisted of a lot of rice, jook (rice porridge), noodles, meat, some vegetables, and cheese. At dim sum I would scoop out the filling of my egg rolls and dumplings and only eat the wrapper. But that's the best part, am I right? The filling would go to either my mom or grandpa. I was very into plain cheeseburgers, mac and cheese, cheese pizzas, and grilled cheese. No toppings, please. To be honest, I'm still into plain cheese everything. I had a serious aversion towards mushrooms, pickles, 75% of most vegetables, spicy things, and tomatoes. GASP. No! Yes. I really did not like tomatoes. I hated tomato soup. Raw tomatoes was never an option for me. Ketchup and pizza sauce was okay. I remember my mom making this tomato egg drop soup and dreading having to drink it. Not because it was bad, it has always been delicious, but because I was stupid. I'm so sorry, Mom! But I'm older and wiser now. I eat practically everything and I LOVE tomatoes. I have come to my senses and can now fully appreciate the beautiful wholesome flavors of this tomato soup.
The soup is bursting with fresh tomato flavor! It's not diluted with any cream or herbs. It's most literally just tomato and water. It simmers for a while and the pure and clean flavors permeate the stock to make the lightest and most flavorful tomato soup you've ever sipped. You can still find gorgeously ripe tomatoes at the market, so grab them while you can! The better the tomatoes the better the soup. But it will still taste great with some off-season tomatoes. The tomatoes are great and all, but the eggs are probably my favorite part of the whole damn thing. You gently swirl them in and if everything goes right, you'll have a few poached/soft boiled eggs floating around that everyone will be fighting over. When I finally outgrew my distaste for tomatoes, I would beg for a huge bowl of this - a soft egg was a must! I honestly could not think of a better meal to transition from Summer to Fall than with this dreamy tomato soup. Happy Fall, y'all!
Tomato Egg Drop Soup
serves 4-6 people
Materials:
4-5 large ripe tomatoes
4 cups of water
4 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp oyster sauce
Salt + White Pepper
4-6 eggs
1/2 lb chicken tenders (optional)
2 tbsp cornstarch (optional)
1 tbsp olive oil (optional)
green onions - thinly sliced for garnish
Steps:
1. Combine water and stock in a large pot and bring to a boil. While your water boils, dice up your tomatoes. Once it come to a boil, add in tomatoes, tomato paste, oyster sauce, and season with 2 tbsp salt and 1 tsp white pepper. Reduce heat to a strong simmer (medium to medium high) and stir occasionally for 20-30 minutes. Taste throughout and season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. If you want to add chicken to your soup, slice the chicken tenders and combine with cornstarch, olive oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Let marinate for 15-20 minutes. Add into your soup after it has been simmering for 20-30 minutes and allow to cook in the soup for 10 minutes.
3. Carefully crack one egg at a time into the soup. When it hits the water, slowly stir the soup with a heat proof spoon or ladle to get those wispy bits of egg. Don't stir too hard though! You want to try to get a little poached or soft boiled egg in there - the best part! Repeat the stir after each egg.
4. After all the eggs have been added, turn off the heat and allow the soup to cool to a safe to eat temperature. The eggs will gently cook in the heat of the soup. Serve the soup in bowls and garnish with thinly sliced green onions!