Oven Roasted Tomato Basil Soup is an easy, comforting soup to put together. Turn the last basket of your garden tomatoes into the best tomato soup to ever cross your lips.
The last of the summer tomatoes is always the first sign of fall in my book. The big, bushy plants that brought forth the first orbs of tomatoey goodness are now all but a sad tangle of brown, weary vines littered with the last vestiges of a productive growing season. It’s a bittersweet thing, I think, for any gardener to see the end of a season. The struggle of man vs. mother nature is nearly finished for the year, but it’s sad to see all the hard work wither back to the earth.
Oddly enough, it’s those last tomatoes that are sometimes the most flavorful. Many are small and ugly, but pack a huge punch in flavor. And because you are probably tired of going out to the garden for the umpteenth time this summer, they are also overripe. These are the best tomatoes for soup.
Fresh tomato soup is on its own plane of existence. When done right, it is like eating summer in a bowl. I prefer roasting my tomatoes before turning them into soup for a couple of reasons; the first is to concentrate and caramelize some of the tomatoey sweetness and the second is to jump start the cooking and softening of the tomatoes. There is a point when you are applying heat to tomatoes that the acids in the fruit change and mellow out. It’s the reason why you have to simmer a fresh marinara sauce for a little while. You don’t want all of that acid to overpower your dish. When you roast your tomatoes, you get to jump right past that. You can do the roasting ahead of time if you like, or roast giant batches of them and use them all week (they make a divine pasta sauce). Either way, you are going to love this tomato soup. Keep it simple and serve alongside a salad or a simple grilled cheese sandwich.
Ingredients
- 8-10 medium tomatoes stems removed and cut in half
- 2 cloves of unpeeled garlic
- 1 small yellow onion quartered
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 2-3 cups chicken broth
- ¼ cup fresh basil minced
- Pinch sugar
- 2 Tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
- Place the tomatoes, onion nd garlic on a sheet pan and coat with the olive oil. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper and place in a 400 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the tomatoes begin to char around the edges.
- Remove the garlic and scrape the contents of the sheet pan into a large pot. Squeeze the garlic out of its peel and into the pot with the tomatoes. Add enough chicken broth to cover the tomatoes and bring up to a simmer. Add in half of the basil, then using a stick blender or a food processor, blend the soup into a puree. Return the soup to the pot and taste, add sugar if needed. Ladle into bowls, top with a drizzle of heavy cream and a sprinkle of basil. Serve!
Leave a Reply