Roasted Tomato Soup

I'm feeling a bit under the weather, so I'm going to keep this post bare bones.  The soup is adapted from the Sandwich King (I know, I know), but seriously it sounded so good I just had to try it.  My instinct was right, and this soup paired with a grilled cheddar cheese (almost) made me forget about my stuffed sinuses.


It all starts out like this:

Is transformed into this:

And is served up like this:

The first picture is a little misleading because a) it doesn't feature all of the ingredients I used, and b) it features one that I didn't end up using.  Can you guess which one?  Read the recipe to find out, you super sleuth.

Roasted Tomato Soup

Ingredients

2 28 ounce cans whole tomatoes, drained with the juices reserved

4 carrots, roughly chopped

2 large shallots, peeled and quartered

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

20 cranks ground black pepper (about 1/2 tsp)

2 tbsp butter

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp dry vermouth

2 cups chicken stock (or veggie stock)

6 tbsp sour cream

Directions

1.  Heat the oven to 400F.  In a large bowl toss tomatoes, carrots, and shallots with the olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Arrange on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper.  Bake for 35 minutes.

2.  When the veggies are almost done roasting melt the butter in a large pot or dutch oven.  Once the butter has melted add the garlic and red pepper and cook until fragrant, about one minute.  Next add the tomato paste, spreading it out on the bottom of the pan while stirring constantly to prevent burning.           3.  Once the tomato paste is incorporated into the butter add the roasted vegetables, cooking off any extra liquid.  Add the vermouth and continue cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 3-4 minutes.

4.  Add one cup of the chicken stock and the reserved juices from the whole tomatoes.  Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow the soup to cool slightly, then puree with an immersion blender. 

5.  Once the soup has reached a desired smoothness you can add another cup of chicken stock if you would like your soup to be thinner (I did).  Then stir in the sour cream and salt and pepper to taste.

In the end I decided to just use the juices of the whole tomatoes rather than another 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes.  Mostly because I didn't have any on hand, and also because I didn't see the sense in wasting perfectly good tomato juice.  Anyway, this soup is complex, warming, and the perfect accompaniment to a grilled cheese sandwich.  Enjoy!