-
1
Spray the bottom of a heatproof pan with olive oil.
-
2
Cut plum tomatoes in half lengthwise and lay them in the pan.
-
3
Sixteen halves fit nicely in a 9- by 13-inch pan.
-
4
Drizzle the whole lot with olive oil.
-
5
A teaspoon or less per tomato will do it.
-
6
Roast the tomatoes one hour at 500F At 45 minutes you can check them, but unless they are really small tomatoes, they will not burn.
-
7
You want to take them out just when a few of them are starting to get a char on the edges.
-
8
The longer they are in there, the more intense the flavor will be.
-
9
Puree in a blender.
-
10
You can leave a few chunks if you want, but this won't take long to get a nice puree.
-
11
Set aside to cool.
-
12
In a large mixing bowl, put the V8, the red and green peppers, the scallions, honey, garlic, vinegar, cumin, parsley and salt.
-
13
Add the pureed tomatoes and stir.
-
14
Taste.
-
15
Add Tabasco or hot sauce to taste.
-
16
(A teaspoon or two should do it.
-
17
If your guests like it hotter, place the Tabasco on the table so they can add more.)
-
18
You can put the soup in your refrigerator to chill and serve later, or you can serve it room temperature now.
-
19
For the Open-Face Crab Sandwich: When you are just about ready to serve, you are going to prepare your floating, open-face crab sandwich.
-
20
Butter your bread slices on one side.
-
21
Place them on a cookie sheet and bake in a 350F oven for 7 minutes or until very lightly golden on the buttered side.
-
22
Flip them over and toast for 3 minutes more.
-
23
Spoon the soup into shallow bowls.
-
24
Place the toasted bread on top in the middle of the soup and then pile one quarter of the crab on top of each person's bread slice.
-
25
It's a sizeable handful.
-
26
A few pieces will fall off into the soup.
-
27
That's fine.
-
28
The soup will be room temperature or cold, the bread will be warm and the crab will be ice cold from the refrigerator.
-
29
The juxtaposition of the temperatures makes this a very interesting dish.
