Neighborhood Eats: The Orange Squirrel in Bloomfield

BLOOMFIELD (WABC) -- Francesco Palmieri likes to do things out of the box. His restaurant in Bloomfield isn't in the main part of town and the name -- The Orange Squirrel -- is certainly a little quirky.

"I love the color orange made perfect sense," he said.

But what makes even better sense is his food.

Dishes like chicken pot pie, tempura mushrooms, and then there's the BLT, but this BLT is a soup and it's vegan.

Customers express their appreciation by sending Francesco squirrels, and Francesco keeps sending out those interesting plates.

Visit TheOrangeSquirrel.com to learn more about the restaurant.

VEGAN BLT SOUP

Ingredients:

5 large Jersey tomatoes peeled and seeded (you can buy canned peeled and seeded tomatoes)

Cherrywood chips or Liquid Smoke

6 oz. extra virgin olive oil / + 1 tbsp. for cooking kale

1 pkg. Soy Fakon (vegan bacon substitute)

20 Kale leaves

Salt and pepper (to taste)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Wash and dry kale leaves and toss in a bowl with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread kale leaves out on a baking rack set atop sheet tray and cook for 10-15 until crispy. Cool at room temperature and set aside.

Take 4 strips of the Fakon, place on a silpat mat and cook in oven for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees until crispy (alternatively you can cook in a frying pan with some non-stick cooking spray). Cool and then break into pieces and put into a spice grinder and pulverize into a powder.

Hot smoke tomatoes for 3 minutes with Cherrywood or use a few drops of liquid smoke. Blend smoked tomatoes in a blender with olive oil until you achieve a smooth consistency and add salt and pepper to taste. Reserve and chill.

Pour tomato soup into 4 soup bowls. Dust rim of plate with the Fakon powder and dust some of the kale chips with it as well. Place 5 of the crispy kale chips on top of each soup. Serve.