To me, nothing says fall like the return of comfort foods like soup and chili. Not only can you pretty much include whatever ingredients you like but they’re easy and can be made in big batches for yummy leftovers.
Since tomatoes are still in season and plentiful in both stores and gardens, homemade Tomato Soup is one of my favorite summer-meets-fall dishes. I wasn’t always a huge fan of tomato soup but I discovered that a freshly flavored (and healthy!) homemade version is impossible to resist.
Summer-Meets-Fall Roasted Tomato Soup
2 lbs fresh tomatoes, mix of Roma, vine-ripe (whatever looks good)
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1 28oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 quart chicken (or vegetable) broth
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp sherry
1/2C half & half
4 Tbsp butter
2 bay leaves
fresh basil, roughly chopped
Kosher salt, black pepper
crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
grated parmesan cheese (optional)
Heat oven to 450. Roughly chop fresh tomatoes and onion. Mix together on a baking sheet with the garlic cloves. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 20-30 minutes until peeling and soft.
Move the tomatoes, onions and garlic to a stockpot or Dutch oven, heat on med-high. Add canned tomatoes with juices, broth, butter, bay leaves, along with vinegar and sherry, to taste. Use a potato masher to smash up the chunks and simmer on med-low for 10-15 min.
Remove the bay leaves. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup in the pot. Or use a standard blender/food processor and work in batches to puree soup to a semi-smooth texture. Add half & half and basil, stir well. Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste.
Return to your childhood by serving with grilled cheese! Let soup simmer while you make your sandwich and garnish soup with parmesan cheese to serve.
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I looove tomato soup these days, so I am totally making this! (if only I had an immersion blender…). I like to throw additional items on my grilled cheese from time to time, such as tomato or turkey slices, or mix it up with havarti or brie. YUM! Also, those dishes look very familiar. 😉
Katie made this soup for us while she was in MN visiting us this past weekend. It is delicious! Luckily, she made a double batch so we could have plenty of leftovers 🙂
This looks scrumptious…and isn’t the immersion blender the best kitchen tool ever?
So I decided to be brave and attempt to make soup for the first time…for 2 reasons. I love tomato soup and Katie’s picture was beautiful…I thought I could easily do the same. I breezed through until time to use my blender ( I don’t have an immersion..yet) my blender decided to break in the middle of condensing everything…so I had to switch to my 3 cup food processor. It took a bit longer..but still turned out to be good soup. Doesn’t really look like Katie’s though…a big more watery. Not sure if I used too much chicken stock or maybe I need to take all seeds and guts out of tomatoes? But Josh loves it so that’s pretty much all that matters 🙂
oh yeah…and since the blender broke I almost ran down the street to Bed Bath and Beyond..but they closed in 7 mins. So then I almost ran to walgreens…but instead I decided that I will replace my broken blender with an immersion blender. KP…what do you recommend?
Just purchased an immersion blender, and can’t wait to try this soup! No better comfort food than tomato soup and grilled cheese. Beautiful photo!
Oooh you are going to love your immersion blender! So much easier. Just make sure you keep it below the surface of the soup so it doesn’t splash all over you. Let me know how you like the soup!
Am loving my immersion blender! I made this tomato soup the other night and it was delicious…thanks for the great recipe! I love your site!
I also write a blog, with high focus on food… http://www.betweenjcandmanhattan.com
making this delicious soup again… Dad requested it 🙂
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