Vegan Tomato Garlic Bread (Gluten-Free) Soup

So the last time I was in the kitchen, I showed you guys how to make a yummy Italian salad. I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite dishes to have along side a salad is a yummy bowl of soup. Keeping with the Italian theme, today I am sharing with you a recipe I learned from Chef Tanya when I visited her Culver City Native Foods Restaurant and checked out one of their free cooking demos last month.

I changed the recipe a little bit from the original one to meet my individual needs and taste preferences. One of the biggest changes from the original was that I made this soup gluten-free by using toasted gluten-free bread instead of “old crusty bread, torn in 1″ pieces.” I also used a little less oil and simply added garlic to my homemade veggie stock instead of making her Garlic Stock. By the way, it’s ridiculously easy to make your own homemade veggie stock. My boyfriend Michael shared our secret stock making tricks in a post on his site. Of course, if you have no time for making your own stock, a nice organic brand will fit the bill…just add a few cloves of garlic while simmering and you’ll be golden.

Vegan Tomato Garlic Bread Soup (Gluten-Free), adapted from Chef Tanya’s original recipe over at Native Foods

What You Need:

• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 1 red onion, 1/4″ diced
• 5 garlic cloves (crushed) to go in your veggie stock
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 3 lbs. fresh tomatoes, chopped in 1″ chunks
• 4 slices of toasted, crunchy gluten-free bread
• 3 cups veggie stock
• 2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1 cup basil chiffonade (or as I refer to it in the video, Basil Ribbons!)

What To Do:
1. In a soup pot, heat up your veggie stock with crushed garlic added.Keep this simmering pot of stock separate from the other ingredients until step 3!
2. In another soup pot, heat the olive oil in a soup pot and add onion and then add the sliced garlic. Saute until transparent and lightly browned. Add salt.
3. Add tomato and bread and saute about one minute.
4. Now add in your stock to the same pot as the bread/tomato/onion/garlic mixture, add black pepper and let simmer about 40 minutes.
5. Garnish with the basil chiffonade (simply stack the basil leaves, roll tightly, and cut at an angle…there you go..there’s your fancy topping!)

I really loved the soup and all the garlic flavor. I will be honest; I found the bread to get a little too mushy for my liking once the soup was fully cooked. I might not have let the bread get old and crusty enough or maybe it was because it was gluten free. When Chef Tanya did it, this did not happen and her bread was not gluten free. I’ll have to experiment with it again. You could also omit the bread and try something like quinoa or brown rice (cooked ahead of time and thrown in the soup later) for some texture. This would also keep the soup gluten free.

Chef Tanya mentioned that you could also top this with a little bit of pine nuts and add a little agave to the tomatoes if they are too acidic. The great thing is that tomatoes are coming back in season, as is basil, so you should be in business! Another great idea is adding some chevre goat cheese on top of your individual soup bowls if you are not a strict vegan and/or adding in some cooked cannellini beans if you are looking for more protein/texture.

This was an amazing soup that I will try again and can easily vary my ingredients to try on different flavors and textures.

What kind of different variations can you think of to add to this soup or another favorite of yours? Do you have a favorite soup recipe that just warms your heart?