Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

Earlier this month I tried to make tomato basil soup; it was a time consuming dish and the taste was so-so... but Scott LOVES tomato basil soup and the tomatoes in Boone are very cheap right now, so I figured I'd tackle a new recipe. I ended up finding several recipes that sounded good, and I used ideas from all of them. It turned out amazing... and not too difficult.

I combined ideas from several recipes to get this:

First, Stew 3 peeled and halved tomatoes in chicken stock.

I remember when I lived at home, if my mom had to cook a chicken for something, she'd save the juice and add some spices and save it for a soothing drink when I was sick. She was always shocked at how much salt I added. (I'm trying to quit, Mom- honest!) Every time I make chicken stock, I get homesick!
I sometimes feel a little guilty I have so many SUPER fresh wholesome organic veggies just down the street when my friends back home in America pay a pretty penny for organic things.

Here is a simple way to make your own chicken stock.

1 Chicken leg

2 C water

a splash of veg. oil

a splash of Tabasco or a stemmed jalapeno

a few bits of carrot, broccoli or corn

cracked pepper and salt to taste

Stew for about 2 hours, strain out the chicken and veggies (and feed to your dog :-) and then add 3 tomatoes and stew them in the chicken stock for about 40 minutes.

Second, while those tomatoes are stewing, wash and halve about 13 tomatoes. Toss them in a large bowl with 1/4 C. Olive Oil 1 Tablespoon of Salt and plenty of cracked pepper. Arrange them in one layer on a baking sheet cut-side up.

Sprinkle about 1/4 teaspoon of brown sugar on each tomato. I also arranged some garlic and onion pieces on top, and roasted them for 40 minutes at 400 F. *Note: we don't have a full size oven, so the roasting pan is really close to the coils. I turned off the bottom coils about half way through for 10 minutes to keep the bottoms of the tomatoes from burning. Don't use tin-foil when roasting tomatoes. (Read why at the bottom)

I could have eaten these tomatoes right out of the oven- they were sooo yummy smelling. Licking my fingers after picking them up was a treat... but I promise not to do that if I'm cooking for company.

Saute some onion and garlic in a big pot until the onion is brown and then add the stewed tomatoes AND the chicken stock and roasted tomatoes. At this time, I added my basil leaves- about 2 Tablespoons. (I WISH I had fresh basil.) This stewed for about 45 minutes. When it was done, I put the stew through the blender... I highly recommend using a blender bigger than mine! Next time, I'm going to try to make some croutons to top it off. My bread skills are seriously lacking (I have yeast issues) (...just with bread) so I'm timid to try croutons.

I'm excited about this recipe because it's easy, and roasting the tomatoes give the soup a rustic flavor. It is also super healthy... not a thing in it is bad for you! I also can make this completely with local foods (except for olive oil). This recipe doesn't require butter or milk, which we often run out of.

One of my favorite web sites is Worlds Healthiest Foods http://www.whfoods.com/. They have so many foods listed, and when you click on one you can learn about how many vitamins and minerals and calories each food contains, and you can also learn how the foods benefit your body. It even tells you the best ways to prepare foods to get the most nutrients. This is what I read about cooking tomatoes.

"It is especially important when cooking tomatoes to not use aluminum cookware since their high acid content will interact with the metal. This may result in the migration of the aluminum into the food, which will not only impart an unpleasant taste, but more importantly, may have deleterious effects on your health."

And, did you know?

"Tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin K. They are also a very good source of molybdenum, potassium, manganese, dietary fiber, chromium, and vitamin B1. In addition, tomatoes are a good source of vitamin B6, folate, copper, niacin, vitamin B2, magnesium, iron, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, vitamin E and protein. "

I'm not sure what molybdenum is, but it sounds like a good thing! ha!

Yay, Tomato soup!