Not a typical Dutch or Maastricht product, you would say. You’re absolutely right. But now, September, is the best time to make a tasty tomato soup since our Dutch tomatoes are now at their best: ripe and juicy. And since there is such abundance, prices are low. Therefore: our recipe for an exquisite tomato soup.
Which tomatoes can you buy in Dutch supermarkets?
‘Tasty toms’: we honestly call them that; they are absolutely divine.
‘Trostomaten’: wonderful taste, but make sure to buy them when they have ripened enough. If they haven’t, leave them outside your fridge. The ‘tros’ in this name refers to the Dutch word meaning ‘bunch’.
Cherry tomatoes: cherry shaped, usually with a lovely taste. Try growing them yourself: you only need a window sill or a small balcony. You can buy the plants on the Friday morning market in Maastricht. They will cost you about 1 euro and you will have plenty of lovely, good tasting small cherry tomatoes all summer long.
‘Roma tomaten’: cleverly marketed tomatoes named as though they came all the way from Rome, Italy. Nonsense of course, we grow them ourselves in our greenhouses. Their shape is more oval, which makes them ideal for baking. We cut them in halves and bake them in olive oil. Leave the skin on, to keep their shape. Very hot pan, add some freshly ground pepper and salt. Serve them with fresh basil leaves. Simple but wonderful!
‘Vleestomaten’: literally flesh tomatoes. Sounds a bit odd, but of course ‘flesh’ refers to the fact there are fewer seeds in this tomato which makes it less juicy and easy to fill. After taking out the pulp, fill them with a mixture of rice (maybe a leftover from the day before), a bit of the pulp you took out, some small diced cubes of gouda cheese, and place them in the oven or microwave for a couple of minutes.
Tomato soup (suitable for vegetarians)
500 grams of ripe ‘roma’ or ‘tros’ tomatoes
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 shallots or one small onion finely chopped
1 teaspoon of normal sugar
freshly ground black pepper
fresh oregano – or dried if you cannot find any fresh
250 ml of red wine (try Spanish, this has a good strong taste)
500 ml of vegetable stock (from a cube)
Drop the tomatoes into boiling water and leave them there for a minute or so. Then peel off their skin and chop them in parts. Heat the oil and soften the onion and garlic for about 3 minutes. Don’t let it burn because that gives the garlic a bitter taste. Add the tomatoes and the sugar and simmer for another 4 minutes. Add the pepper and the oregano, finally add the wine and the warm stock and leave it to simmer for another 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Smakelijk eten!