Holy Tomatoes!

My friends and family have been more than generous with their tomatoes this season.  On top of my 1/2 share from the Royal Oak Community Farm, I've had to get more creative than just salad toppings with my red fruit.  Tonight, I put a bunch to good use in a Tomato-Basil soup.  The recipie is from Williams-Sonoma's Weeknight Cook cookbook. 

Plum tomatoes, 10, halved
Garlic, 2 cloves minced
Fresh Basil, 4 TBS chopped
Olive Oil, 5 TBS
Shallots, 4, halved (I used a small white onion from the farm)
Dry white wine, 1 1/2 cups
salt and pepper
YIELD:  4

1  Roast the tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Arrange the tomatoes cut side up in a roasting pan or heavy duty cookie sheet.    Sprinkle with the garlic and 1 tablespoon of the basil and drizzle with 4 tablespoons of the oil. 

Roast until the tomatoes are soft when pierced with a fork, about 25 minutes.  Remove and discard the skins (I used two sets of tongs to do this). 

 2  Simmer the Soup

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, warm the remaining oil.  Add the onion and saute for about 2 minutes.  Add the roasted tomatoes, wine and 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, until the mixture has thickened, about 20 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  (The seasoning is key-if you skip it, the soup will be really yucky!)

I like to think of step 2 as the "Enjoy the remaining wine" step.

3 Puree the Soup

Using a food processor or blender, puree the soup to the desired consistency.  Return to pan and reheat to serving temperature.  Garnish with remaining basil and enjoy. 

Enjoy!