Roasted Cream of Tomato Soup

Recipe by Catherine Pla

Serves 4

Roasted Cream of Tomato Soup

The perfect antidote to a chilly day, best served with grilled cheese! If you’re vegan, use almond or coconut milk instead of heavy cream, and water or vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

• 3-4 lbs tomatoes, Roma, cherry, whatever you have, halved and quartered if large

• 8 cloves of garlic

• 1 yellow onion, cut into eighths

• 3 T olive oil

• 2 t granulated sugar

• 1 t kosher salt

• 1⁄2 t black pepper

• 2 c chicken broth (or water or vegetable broth)

• 2 T tomato paste

• 1⁄4 t red pepper flakes

• A couple sprigs of fresh thyme or 1⁄2 t dried thyme or Herbes de Provence

• 1⁄4 c red or white wine (optional, I do this if I have an open bottle around. Don’t open a bottle for this step, unless you want to!)

• 1⁄2 c heavy cream (or coconut milk or almond milk)

• Garnishes, basil leaves or parsley

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Toss together tomatoes, garlic, onion, olive oil, sugar, salt, and pepper on a sheet pan. Roast until tomatoes have softened and onions are starting to brown in spots, 45-60 minutes (can be done 1 day in advance, then cool and refrigerate).

Add tomato mixture to a large soup pot. Heat over medium heat and stir in tomato paste, red pepper flakes, and thyme or herbes de Provence. Add wine, if using, and increase heat. Simmer for 2 minutes until wine has reduced a bit, then add broth. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer soup for 8-10 minutes more.

Remove thyme sprigs and transfer soup to a blender (or use an immersion blender) and carefully purèe in batches. Return soup to pot, stir in heavy cream (or substitutions) and warm through over medium heat. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt and pepper if needed.