Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup

Nothing better on a steaming hot day than a nice hot bowl of soup. Made by first firing up the oven for an hour. Yes, yes, this is a brilliant recipe for a hot summer day. It did however, help me accomplish my goal of not having to put up any tomatoes this week. This is a mix between an Ina Garten recipe and my mom's recipe. 


I should also note I tried to use the food mill on this recipe. I thought it would get rid of some of the seeds and skins and it did, but it was also a giant P.I.A. and I could have just used the stick blender (which is what I ended up doing in the end). 


Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup
3 lbs tomatoes (I used a mix of plum and cherry tomatoes)
olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2.5 cups stock (mine was veggie)
splash marsala wine
1 cup basil, sliced thin
3/4 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 325. Cut large tomatoes in quarters. Toss all tomatoes in olive oil with salt and pepper and place on roasting pans. (I kept the kinds of tomatoes separate so that I could take one out earlier if the cooking times were different, but I don't really think that's necessary.) Roast for 45 minutes. When the tomatoes have only a few minutes left, heat a couple tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Sweat onions and garlic. Remove tomatoes from oven and add them to the onions and garlic. Make sure you scrape all the juices in the roasting pan into the soup pot as well. Cook everything together for 5 minutes. Add stock and bring to boil. Add marsala and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add basil and milk. Use a stick blender to smooth the soup out to desired texture. Adjust seasonings and serve (preferably with grilled cheese sandwiches - the best accompaniment to tomato soup!).