Roasted Tomato Soup

Pin It

I cannot recommend this soup highly enough. Roasting the tomatoes, onion, and garlic helps to make the soup flavor even more intense. It is outstanding and just jumped in line in front of my previously favorite tomato soup for the #1 spot. Inspired by a Tyler Florence's recipe for roasted tomato soup. Serves 4 people.

INGREDIENTS
4 lbs. ripe tomatoes (I used a combination of heirloom and on-the-vine)

1 large onion, half of it thinly sliced and the other half chopped

5 garlic cloves, peeled

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tbs. ghee*

1 pinch of red pepper flakes

4 cups chicken stock (see recipe here if you want to make your own)

1 bay leaf

1/4 cup basil, chopped

1/3 cup coconut milk (or heavy cream)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare the tomatoes by quartering large ones and halving smaller ones and then removing all the seeds. Place them, along with the thinly sliced onion and the whole garlic cloves on a sheet pan in a single layer and cover with the 1/4 cup of olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 1 hour. Let cool a few minutes, until they are able to be handled, and then remove and discard the tomato skins.

Once the veggies are out of the oven, start prepping the rest of the soup. Heat the ghee in a large pot over medium-low heat and add the chopped onion and some salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and just starting to get brown (~7-10 minutes). Add a little water if the onion starts sticking/browning too quickly. In the last minute or two of cooking add the red pepper flakes and stir to combined. Once softened, add the tomato/onion/garlic to the pot and stir. Add the chicken stock and bay leaf and bring to a low boil for about 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf, add the chopped basil and the coconut milk and blend with a stick blender until silky smooth. Taste for salt and pepper and serve immediately. 

*Ghee is clarified butter and it has a much higher smoke point, meaning it won't burn as easily as regular butter. It also tastes delicious with sautéed onion. But, if you don't have ghee, just use olive oil.