Little Kim’s Creamy Korean Tomato Soup
Perfect for a fall warm-up!
We’ve now finished our first couple of months at Little Kim, Miss Kim’s just-a-few-feet-across-the-walkway, vegetarian “little sister.” In a nutshell, it’s been going great. Restaurant startups are always challenging, but Chef Ji Hye and crew have been managing that challenge with grace, dignity, and some seriously in-depth deliciousness.
The latest dish to delight diners is this new Creamy Tomato Soup spiced with Korean gochujang chile. The recipe work was done by one of Miss Kim’s skilled cooks, Raunaq. It’s super delicious and wonderfully comforting. You can eat it hot right when you get it or take some home—it will keep in the fridge for four or five days (at least) just fine, and it freezes well, too.
The soup is made with the amazing Bianco DiNapoli organic tomatoes we’ve been writing about (and eating) for the last few years. They come from my friend Chris Bianco of the amazing Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix. If you had told me 10 years ago that I would be this enamored with a canned tomato, I would have probably squinted, looked at you strangely, and tried not to roll my eyes too excessively. Everything about the Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes is terrific. They’re the result of a long period of collaboration between Chris in Arizona and his friend Rob DiNapoli, a third-generation fruit farmer in northern California. Peeled and canned with nothing but three basil leaves, and the tomatoes are so good that I will happily eat them right out of the can. As the basis of this soup, they pretty much guarantee that what you get in the bowl will be remarkably flavorful.
The Little Kim crew spices the already terrifically tasty Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes with Korean gochujang and adds some Calder Dairy butter and cream. The soup gets garnished with a sherry vinegar sauce, which is made with Sanchez Romate Vinegar from Spain, and then it’s served topped with croutons crafted in the Little Kim kitchen from Bakehouse Farm Bread. The gochujang brings a little heat (though to spice-loving palates like mine and Ji Hye’s, it still seems pretty mild), a bit of butter, and cream to enhance the Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes’ natural sweetness. Ji Hye says:
I love this sherry vinegar; it goes so well with tomatoes and brings just enough acidity to make it balanced and more interesting. This sherry vinegar goes so well with Korean food that I wish I could use it for everything, but we are definitely using it where it counts and shines the most.
Tasty, terrific, creamy, comforting! Come by soon and buy a cup!
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P.S. If you come by Little Kim Tuesday to Thursday, there’s a special you can get: a cup of soup and a half-sandwich for just $17.
