Creamy Roasted Balsamic Tomato Soup

Makes 4 Servings

Ingredients:

5 Roma tomatoes, halved, seeded
½ sweet onion cut in very large chunks
6 cloves of roasted garlic
2 C vegetable beef broth
½ C water
1 C cream
1 t chili flakes (optional)
Salt and Pepper
3 T Olive oil to drizzle
3 T Balsamic vinegar to drizzle
Fresh basil leaves for garnish

Direction:

• Cut the top off a large head of garlic, place in the middle of an 8 inch square of foil. Drizzle with a bit of good olive oil. Wrap the head, by gathering the corners and bringing to the top, twist and seal. Roast in a 375 degree F oven for about 35 minutes. Remove open, let sit and cool for about 10 minutes, then squeeze out the cloves. They will come out whole, easily. Set aside. You can do this the day before. They stay good in the refrigerator in a sealed container for a couple of days.
• Keep the oven on at 375 degrees F. On a cookie sheet lined with foil, arrange the cut tomatoes and onions. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with about 3 T olive oil and toss. Spread out the tomatoes and onions and drizzle with the vinegar, then roast them all in the oven for about 35 minutes. Then turn the oven up to 425 degrees F and roast another 15 plus minutes, until the edges are charred. It will depend upon the size of the tomatoes and onions. (My tomatoes were about 3 and a half inches long.) Remove from oven, let cool for about 10 minutes. Tomatoes and onions should easily slide off the foil and into a blender. Add 1 and a half C of the broth. And 6 of the roasted cloves. Puree until smooth but not watery. You want some texture to the soup.
• In a large sauce pan, pour the pureed tomato mixture in along with the other half of the broth, ½ water, 1 C heavy cream and salt and pepper to taste. Add the chili flakes to your taste. Serve hot with fresh basil.