Recipe: Tomato Tarragon Soup from The Bijou Cafe (Sarasota, FL)

Photo by Fred Bollaci.

The Bijou Café

Sarasota’s Bijou Café has been a local landmark for fine Continental dining in the heart of Sarasota’s theater and arts district since 1986.

Recipes courtesy of J. P. Knaggs, Bijou Café. 

Chilled Tomato-Tarragon Soup

Phases 2-4 (*See Note)

Serves six

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, finely diced

2 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter

zest of 1 very ripe orange

4 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped fresh tomatoes (or good quality canned)

1 cup good quality tomato juice

4 cups freshly squeezed orange juice (or good quality not from concentrate)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon or 1 teaspoon dried tarragon

salt and white pepper, to taste

orange slices and tarragon sprigs for garnish

Note: you can add a garnish of lobster meat, crab meat, or shrimp to customize it at home.

Instructions:

1. Sauté the onion lightly in the butter; do not allow it to brown.
2. Add the orange zest and stir well.
3. In a large nonaluminum pot or stockpot, combine the remaining ingredients and stir well.
4. Bring almost to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Puree with an immersion blender or let cool and puree in batches in a blender. Chill for several hours before serving.
6. Garnish with fresh sprigs of tarragon and very thin slices of unpeeled orange.

Note: this is a great soup in Phases 2-4, but not Phase 1, because of the butter (which can be reduced)