Roasted Tomato Soup

...and this week's soup is...roasted tomato. I love tomato soup and have made it in different forms. Some day I will post my gingered tomato soup. But this week the tomatoes are roasted. To make this version of tomato soup you will need:

• 12 large, fleshy roma tomatoes
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 large onion
• 5 cloves garlic
• 3 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the tomatoes in quarters. Remove the seeds and white centers. Drizzle olive oil in two large pyrex molds. Place the tomatoes in the molds skin side up. Add the 5 cloves of garlic, Drizzle with additional olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

 

Place the molds in the oven for 30 minutes. ->

Turn the tomatoes and roast for and additional 30 minutes. This is hotter and quicker than the roasting we did for the roasted tomato recipe. The tomatoes shrivel and cook, but don't caramelize quite as much as with the longer slower roasting. At the end of the second roasting time, the tomato skins should be easily removable. I took off most of the skins at this point to avoid having to strain the puree later on. The garlic can also be squeezed out of their skins.

While the tomatoes are roasting, dice the onion and cook it slowly in a couple turns of olive oil. Add a bit of salt. Cook until the onion is translucent. 

When the tomatoes and garlic are roasted, add them to the onions and simmer together for a few minutes. Add the chicken broth and simmer for 15 minutes. 

 

I used an immersion blender to puree the soup. From here you can take this soup in the direction you want...add more broth for a thinner soup...add cream for a creamier version...add some paprika, or crushed pepper flakes, or some Italian seasoning.... I just adjusted the salt and served the soup thick and hot with some of the grated cotija cheese (extra from the corn dip) on top. It was delicious, and even better today for lunch.