roasted tomato & garlic soup

I know that yesterday I said I was going to share my smoothie recipe today, but I changed my mind. I'm a woman, what can ya do? tomatoes are still in season, but they won't be for long, so I decided to share the recipe that Roasted Tomato and Garlic soup I mentioned yesterday. make it while you can!

this soup is delicious, folks. I made it back in August because I had an abundance of tomatoes from the market, but I froze it and have been breaking it out in this cooler weather. Rachael instagrammed it, after finding it in Gourmet magazine [August 2009 issue], and I was all over that recipe. it takes a while to make, but it is so so worth it. perfect for a rainy fall day.

what you need:

- 4 lb tomatoes, halved lengthwise

- 6 cloves of garlic, left unpeeled

- 1 medium onion, finely chopped

- 1/2 tsp dried oregano

- 2 tsp sugar

- 2 tbs butter

- 3 cups of vegetable stock

- 1/2 cup heavy cream

- olive oil

- salt and pepper, to taste

what you do with it:

1) preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2) arrange tomatoes in a large baking dish, cut side up. add garlic cloves to the pan, drizzle the whole shebang with olive oil , and salt and pepper to taste.

3) roast tomatoes and garlic  for 1 hour, then let them cool in the pan. remove the garlic cloves, peel them, then toss them back in.

4) in a large stock pot, melt the butter and then cook onion, oregano, and sugar in it, over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until the onion is softened [when Stephanie made this, she pointed out that you should be careful to not let the onions carmelize, so it should only take about 5-7 minutes].

5) add the tomato, garlic & stock mixture to the pot, juices and all. cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

6) let the soup cool for a bit, then puree in batches in the blender. force it through a sieve into a clean pot [news flash: if you don't have a sieve, it's not the end of the world. I tried forcing my soup through our bacon splatter guard and that didn't work, so I have kinda chunky soup. still delicious].

7) if you're planning on eating the soup right away, add the heavy cream, salt & pepper, and simmer again for 2 or 3 minutes. if you're planning to freeze it, wait to do this step until you're ready to heat it up to eat it.

8) pour that soup into some pretty bowls, get a good loaf of bread to dip in it, and enjoy!

9) get your husband to do the dishes.