I tasted this soup onboard the SeaBird on our recent cruise to Alaska. It was amazing!!! After much begging, the chef generously gave me the recipe (although it serves 70!!!). We’ll try to cut that down at a later time, but I wanted to present the recipe as it was given me, then we can go from there, okay? Or maybe just wait until you have a HUGE party.
Ingredients
32 lbs. roma tomatoes, cored and sliced in half (or 20 lbs. romas, one #10 can fire roasted tomatoes and one can diced tomatoes. Don’t use more than one can of fire roasted because the jalapenos will make the soup too spicy - just make sure you have a total of 32 lbs)
10 lbs. onions, peeled and sliced
1 cup olive oil
8 qts. chicken stock
1 lb. unsalted butter
3 c. basil leaves, loosely packed
1 1/2 qts. heavy cream - optional, for volume
1/4 c. lemon juice
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Directions
toss the sliced onions in half the oil and place on sheet pans in a single layer. Toss the tomatoes in the rest of the oil, and also place them on sheet pans. Roast them in a medium oven until the onions have browned (not burnt) and until the tomatoes have melted and colored. This will take about an hour. Meanwhile pick the basil leaves.
Remove the tomatoes and onions from the oven. Heat the stockpot and transfer the onions and tomatoes to the pot with the chicken stock. Heat to boil. If using canned tomato product, add them at this time.
Once the soup has come to a boil, puree with puree stick (Rambo). This soup should be fairly thick but not completely smooth. Add the basil leaves and continue to puree until they are small flecks in the soup.
Add the butter and stir until melted. Add the lemon juice and correct the seasoning. If you are using canned tomato product, the soup will probably not need seasoning.
Add cream only if you need more volume.