From Soup to Sauce: One Recipe, Multiple Meals with Cornman Farms

This week, I whipped up tomato soup from the last of this year’s harvest.

…Go ahead and file that one under, “Things I never thought I’d say.” But it’s true! I went to a cooking class at Cornman Farms and I’m so proud of what we made.

The class I attended – called Soup to Sauce and offered once a season through Cornman Farms – taught us how to make what was probably the best tomato soup I’ve ever tasted, but that wasn’t all. It then taught us how to take that soup and turn it into multiple meals.

Our group also made Sweet & Sour Sauce and Bolognese Sauce, leveraging the Tomato Soup as a base for both. In other words – and thinking of it in practical, every day terms – you can create a big batch of Tomato Soup early in the week and then have it be the base for meals literally every day that week. All without having to re-create the same meal over and over.

And I’m super excited to share all three of those recipes with you today!

From Soup to Sauce: One Recipe, Multiple Meals with Cornman Farms

Kieron Hals, the head chef and creator of the recipes, told us that his family always has a bit batch of the Tomato Soup base in their fridge to leverage for meals throughout the week. Saves on time, money and effort. Further solidifying my stance that the man is a GENIUS. (Important side note: He’s worked in 1, 2 and 3 Michelin-Star restaurants around the world. So, yea. Definitely take note of the recipes below.)

Here are the main recipes we tackled at the Cornman Farms cooking class. I promise, they’re not only crazy delicious but they’re pretty easy, too!

Tomato Soup Recipe

Quick Description: Simple yet silky and rich tomato soup. This is farm classic is made with field tomatoes, garlic, shallots and a splash of sherry and white wine.

Ingredients:

• 70 g pomace oil 
• 300 g sliced shallots 
• 30 g salt 
• 47 g garlic puree 
• 10 g thyme 
• 2029 g canned peeled tomatoes 
• 366 g white wine 
• 50 g sherry 

Instructions:

1. Place a heavy bottom pan over medium heat. 
2. Add oil and shallots to the pan and cook for 5 – 8 minutes until shallots are tender and translucent. 
3. Meanwhile, roughly chop the fresh thyme and place in a small coffee grinder with the salt. Blend until it forms into a salt consistency again. 
4. Add this to shallots and simmer for 3 – 4 minutes. 
5. Place garlic and pomace oil in a blender and blitz until smooth. 
6. Add garlic mixture to shallots and cook for an additional 5 – 8 minutes. 
7. Roughly chop the canned tomatoes and add these (and the juice) to the pan. Simmer for 30 minutes. 
8. Add the white wine and sherry. Simmer for 20 minutes. 
9. Pour into a Vitamix and blitz for 10 seconds on high speed. 
10. Serve!

Bolognese Sauce

Quick Description: Transform your tomato soup base into a traditional Italian beef bolognese. Made with 25 ingredients, this sauce captures the best from the kitchen garden.

Ingredients:

• 50 g pomace oil 
• 454 g (1 lb) ground beef 
• 120 g (4 slices) of bacon 
• 220 g onion (1 medium) onion, roughly chopped 
• 130 g celery, roughly chopped 
• 100 g carrots, roughly chopped 
• 50 g red pepper, roughly chopped 
• 50 g orange pepper, roughly chopped 
• 15 g garlic cloves, pureed 
• 100 g tomato paste 
• 200 g white wine 
• 400 g chicken stock 
• 480 g Chef Kieron’s Tomato Soup (recipe above)
• 1 bayleaf 
• 260 g heavy cream 
• 0.5 g ground nutmeg 
• 5 g (1 spring) fresh oregano 

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. 
2. Break up the fresh ground beef into small pieces and add to pot; season with pinch of salt. 
3. Mix occasionally and cook for 6 – 8 minutes until the beef is browned. Place into a bowl and set aside. 
4. Wipe out the pot and add bacon into the pot over medium heat, stirring constantly for 6 – 8 minutes until bacon has released some of its fat and is crisp. 
5. Meanwhile, place the onions, celery, carrots, red pepper, and orange pepper into a Vitamix and blitz until very finely chopped. 
6. Add this to the pot with the bacon. 
7. Cook for 6 – 8 minutes until the vegetables are very soft and beginning to stick to the surface. 
8. Add in ground beef back and cook for 5 minutes. 
9. Add in garlic and cook for another 5 minutes. 
10. Add tomato paste and cook for another 5 minutes. 
11. Add the bayleaf, white wine and chicken stock and simmer for 1 hour. 
12. Add the cream and simmer for an additional 1 hour. 
13. Add the nutmeg and oregano and discard the bayleaf. 
14. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning with salt. 
15. Serve! 

Sweet & Sour Sauce

Quick Description: Transform your tomato soup base into a classic Sweet and Sour sauce, combining the sweetness of honey and pineapple with the sourness of rice vinegar.

Ingredients:

• 800 g Chef Kieron’s Tomato Soup (recipe above)
• 130 g rice vinegar 
• 20 g sesame seed oil 
• 130 g fresh pineapple 
• 120 g honey 
• 20 g soy sauce 
• 120 g carrots 
• 100 g celery 
• 50 g cornstarch 

Instructions:

1. Place Chef Kieron’s Tomato Soup, rice vinegar, sesame seed oil, fresh pineapple, honey, soy sauce, fine diced carrots, and fine diced celery in a Vitamix and blitz at high speed for 10 seconds. 
2. Place 100 g of this mixture into a mixing bowl. Add cornstarch and whisk fully. 
3. Pour the remainder of the mixture into a pan and set at a simmer. 
4. Add the cornstarch mixture to the pan and continue to simmer for 4 – 5 minutes until thick, whisking constantly. 
5. Remove and blitz once more in a Vitamix at high speed for 10 seconds. 
6. Serve!

If you’re in the metro Detroit area and are interested in doing a class like this, I can’t recommend it enough!

It’d be the perfect date night activity or even something fun to do with your girlfriends. The classes are called “Soup to Sauce” and offered once a season. Be sure to swing by Cornman Farms – and keep up with them on social – to sign up for the next one.

Here are some pics of our class cooking the recipes and then enjoying the food after. Kieron also demonstrated lots of cooking techniques and tips that were new to me, like how to correctly chop and how to create your own salt at home. Be sure to follow along on the Cornman Farms Instagram account today as I showcase some of the behind the scenes of the class!

I’m curious – have you ever made multiple meals, from soup to sauce, of the same base ingredient? If you’re in metro-Detroit have you been to Cornman Farms? The venue is STUNNING and their events are so fun!

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