Cool Tomato and Buttermilk Soup

Another recipe from Michael Natkin's "Herbivoracious". Nice switch from gazpacho, makes a light, easy summer dinner with a salad and some bread, although it will only give you 2 to 3 servings if you're making it a meal. The time-consuming part of this recipe is making the Tomato Confit, it needs to be made in advance. I found I needed to add more milk to get it to the consistency I wanted, but it's very flexible. The addition of some milk does cut the tartness of the buttermilk, though. Make it vegan by using a combination of part vegan sour cream and part alternative milk (rice, hemp, soy, etc.). Natkin suggests adding a little lemon zest to it; I think a small piece of chipotle in adobo would be wonderful, or maybe a garnish of cooked shellfish or diced avocado or roasted sweet corn.

• Ready In: 5 mins
• Serves: 2-4

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 cups  cold buttermilk
• 36  plum tomatoes, halves made into tomato confit (Tomato Confit)
• 1  teaspoon kosher salt
•  finely chopped fresh chives
•  extra virgin olive oil
•  flaky sea salt (such as Malden)

Directions

1. Chill four small bowls.
2. Puree the buttermilk, 32 of the tomato halves, and the salt in a blender. Run the blender for at least 1 minute to make the puree as smooth as possible. If not using a high-speed blender such as a Vitamix, you may want to strain the puree through a fine-meshed sieve to make it as silky as possible.
3. Add more buttermilk (or milk) to adjust the texture, taste, and adjust seasoning. Refrigerate the soup, covered, until serving time.
4. To serve, divide the soup among the chilled bowls, then top with the remaining (finely chopped) tomato confit halves, the chives, a drizzle of oil, and a sprinkle of salt.