Roasted Tomato Soup with Basil

The sunny days are a gift, but the chilly nights still call for comfort food. This soup will warm your evenings, perfume your kitchen, and will require about 2 minutes of your time. It’s quite possible that you have all the ingredients already at hand.

That is the best kind of comfort food. This recipe is for Roasted Tomato Soup with Basil. It calls for canned tomatoes, an onion, and 4 or 5 cloves of garlic to roast in the oven. That means you have to open 2 cans, peel garlic cloves, and cut an onion into 4 pieces. A few spoons of balsamic vinegar, chicken broth and a touch of brown sugar add the zing.

While this concoction is roasting in the oven you just hang out and do nothing or do something you want to do because this recipe requires no attention.

After about an hour take the roasted tomatoes out of the oven to cool before tossing them in a blender. Now talk about easy – this dinner is done. Well – unless you require grilled cheese sandwiches and I do. The best cheese combo is always up for debate, but plain old cheddar is reliable and delicious. If you feel fancy, it doesn’t hurt to include brie, then you’ve got my favorite sandwich.

An added benefit to this soup was an accidental discovery – it’s also marvelous cold. I took leftovers out of the fridge to heat up and tasted first. It was an Ah Ha moment. So good! That is the kind of versatility that can make this be your “little black dress” in the recipe file.

My husband says this is Fake Spring and the weather will get really cold again, but either way you have a recipe for a cool evening and looking ahead – a hot sunny day. Make this soon. Enjoy!

Roasted Tomato Soup with Basil

Ingredients

2 28 oz cans whole tomatoes, undrained

1 onion peeled and quartered

4-5 cloves peeled garlic

1 cup chicken or vegetable broth – divided (hint: Jars of Better than Bouillon keep in the fridge and make it easy to mix a spoonful in warm water. One cube works too.)

1 Tbsp brown sugar

3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp soy sauce

¼ cup half and half (or to taste for creamer version)

Fresh or dried basil

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup.

Put tomatoes, onions, garlic on baking sheet.

Mix ½ cup chicken broth with brown sugar, vinegar, and soy sauce and pour over tomatoes.

Roast for 50 minutes to an hour until there are a few lightly browned bits.

Allow to cool slightly before adding everything including brown bits to a blender with cream and a few sprigs of basil or a tsp dried basil.

Add remaining ½ cup of chicken or vegetable broth.

Pulse to desired texture (a handheld emersion blender works too).

Reheat to serve or store in the refrigerator.