Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
("A Year of The Best" page 67 )
Fleshy Roma tomatoes make great soups and sauces. Check your local farmer's market for good buys and build a batch of this great soup - freezes well for a quick winter's dinner.

3 lb. ripe Roma tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground pepper
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cups chopped onions
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 - 28 oz. (798 ml) can plum tomatoes and juice
2 cups torn fresh basil leaves
1 tsp. thyme
4 cups chicken stock



Preheat oven to 400 F. Toss tomatoes with oil, salt and pepper. Spread in one layer on baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes. In large pot over medium heat, heat oil and saute onions,garlic and red pepper flakes until onions start to brown. Add canned tomatoes, basil, thyme and chicken stock. Add oven-roasted tomatoes, including any liquid on baking sheet. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Puree in batches to a coarse mixture. Serve hot or cold.

Oh my!!! This is right up my alley! Sounds wonderful!

Thanks for this one~

Amy

Recently I had lunch at The Corner Bakery. They have a delicious Roasted Tomao Basil Soup and now I'd like to try making something similar to their recipe at home (I think their recipe had red pepper flakes like the one posted here). I was wondering if anyone has a review on the above recipe posted by Redraspberrygirl? Or, with fresh tomatos so plentiful right now, it would be great to try a recipe using fresh tomatoes instead of canned. Does anyone has something to share?

LibraryLinda

 Hi, Linda!

Here's a recipe that was posted back in '06. Nancy_NJ posted it and Appy_Girl reviewed it. Her review was so glowing I had to try it! It's fantastic. I'm counting the days 'til my Roma's are ripe and I can make this wonderful soup again. I think you will find this very much to your liking!!

 

Tomato Soup With Basil And Parmesan Cream~ Posted by Nancy_N.J. 8/14/06

 Ingredients
 1/2 Tbs olive oil
 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
 1/2 cup cup finely chopped carrots
 1 large onion. chopped
 10 ripe plum tomatoes, halved( I quartered) Some were big
 Salt and pepper to taste
 1 bay leaf
 1/4 tsp dried oregano
 3 cups of low-salt chicken stock Used 1 can of Collage inn chicken stock
 1/4 cup of fresh Basil leaves
 1/4 cup of parm cheese
 3 Tbs of Non-fat sour cream

 Cook the carrot and celery and tomatoes in the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes.
 Add the bay leaf, oregano and broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and simmer till the vegtables are tender.
 Blend the parm cheese, basil and sour cream. Mix and set aside. Remove the bay leaf and puree the soup in batches, strain and adjust the seasonings.~`Ladle into bowls and serve with a dollop of the basil, parmesan cream.

Janie's Notes: Sip this delicate soup like a fine cup of tea and just enjoy it's fragile, gentle yet perfectly balanced spices and flavors. While it is light and delicate the addition of carrots and celery make this one extremely healthy and very consume like in texture. Soft in color and slightly vegtable in taste this soup will boost up any tomato lovers palate. What a wonderful base for Tomato Aspic, Gumbo, Vegtable and Clam Chowder. I simmered this soup very gently for quite some time as I am a firm believer that simmering will yield the best flavors from all components in the recipe. Thanks Nancy for another wonderful soup recipe~~ Janie~`

and her suggestions for making the soup -

 I sauted the vegtables by themselves for about 20 minutes or so covered. Then I added the tomatoes and the seasonings and again, covered and simmered for about 45 minutes. Uncovered then added the stock checked for seasonings and again simmered this time uncovered for about 15 minutes then followed the rest of the recipe.

 This soup tasted so healthy that I decided not to make the topping~

 * The soup is very hot so allow to cool slightly before processing or you will get a Tomato scented facial~~
 

Kay's Notes: I followed Janie's advice as to the amount of cooking time! I did make the Basil & Parmesan cream, but I didn' t have any fresh basil on hand so used dried instead. It was wonderful and I can only imagine how much better it would've been with fresh!! I also sprinkled some seasoned croutons on top of each serving!! I made a comment on Janie's review that I thought this sounded like heavenly ambrosia!! Guess what? It most definitely is!!!

Tomato soup has always been a fave of mine. A number of years ago, I got a recipe for homemade tomato soup that forever changed how I think of tomato soup. No more of that stuff in a can!! It's gotta be freah all the way!! Well, now I have another recipe that I will definitely be making again..........and again............and again!! It doesn't get much better than this!! I just canned 12 qts. of tomato soup using my older recipe. Now I want more plum tomatoes so I can make a big batch of this for canning, too!!! And I thought I was done canning soup for this year!! LOL

 Thanks again, ladies!! 

This sound exactly like what I was looking for! Thank you so much for posting. Now I'm just waiting for those fresh tomatoes to ripen... LibraryLinda