Roasted Tomato Soup

It's the end of summer, the weather is starting to cool, and there are tons of tomatoes on the vines right now! Our CSA has been sending us two pounds of heirlooms in every box and our basil plant is overflowing, so I decided to mix up some yummy tomato basil soup. Roasting the tomatoes is optional; you can just cook them in the stock, but roasting gives them a really great flavor if you have the time. Easily doubled, this recipe is for two people:

2 lbs tomatoes (cherry, plum, roma, beefsteak, doesn't matter)

olive oil

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 stalk celery, roughly chopped

1/2 onion, roughly chopped

2-4 cups vegetable or chicken stock

two large stems fresh basil

Salt and red pepper flakes

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. Quarter and seed your tomatoes and place in one layer in an ovenproof skillet (if using cherry or plum tomatoes, no need to cut them). Drizzle with 3-4 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast in oven for 4 hours, or until the tomatoes are wrinkly and the skins are slightly charred.

Remove pan from the oven and remove tomatoes with a slotted spoon to a medium saucepan. Place pan with olive oil and tomato drippings over med-low heat and add the garlic, celery and onion. Stir and sweat ingredients until soft. Add one cup of stock, stirring to deglaze pan, then transfer to saucepan with tomatoes. Add enough stock to partially cover the tomatoes, cover and cook over low heat for 30 mins.

Add the whole basil leaves to the soup. Using an immersion blender or transferring to a regular blender, blend soup until smooth, adding more stock if necessary to get the desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and red pepper. Serve with tasty grilled mozzarella cheese sandwiches.