Baked Tomato Soup

Bill Smith shares a recipe from his menu at Crook’s Corner, Chapel Hill, N.C., a local institution that specializes in Southern cooking—from classic dishes to those with an updated twist.

Serves: 4-6

5 pounds of ripe tomatoes*
8 cloves peeled garlic
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup fresh basil leaves (chiffonade a few leaves for garnish and set aside)
Juice and zest of 1 large orange
1 fat pinch of saffron
1 cup of quark** (can substitute sour cream, fromage blanc or plain yogurt)
Fresh popcorn

*This is a good way to use up squished or bruised ones. At the restaurant Smith saves all the trimmings from everything else that uses tomatoes

**Quark is a sour cream–like farmers' cheese that is common in some places and less so in others. It is known as fromage blanc in France. Quark can be purchased in specialty food stores.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut away the stems and any blemishes from the tomatoes, and cut up tomatoes. In a nonreactive roasting pan with a tight fitting lid add tomatoes and all other ingredients except quark, the chiffonade and the popcorn. Cover tightly and bake for about 2 hours, or until the tomatoes have completely collapsed and produced a great deal of juice.

2. Allow to cool until you can puree the mixture without burning yourself. Puree everything—garlic, leaves and all the juice—in a food mill (not a food processor). Refrigerate until chilled. When the soup has cooled completely, whisk in the quark. It may appear curdled at first, but continue to whisk. If the soup is too thick, add half-and-half to thin it.

3. Taste for seasoning. (Note: Smith usually ends up zesting in more orange peel.) Serve the tomato soup cold with the basil chiffonade on top and a big bowl of hot popcorn in the middle of the table.

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