I love tomatoes!

And its a good thing my husband does too because our garden has produced so many tomatoes this summer I almost don't know what to do with them. Notice I said *almost*
We had about 4lbs of tomatoes that needed to be used ASAP & of course the giant basil plant had to be cut back again, so what to make with these two ingredients on a cool day? Well Roasted Tomato Basil Soup of course!!!
I read through quite a few recipes on Tomato Basil Soup, some had fresh tomatoes, some had canned tomatoes, some had a mixture of both. So I really just made this up but gathered info from foodnetwork & CookingLight.

Roasted Tomato & Basil Soup

about 4lbs of tomatoes, any type

olive oil

salt & pepper (I used freshly ground of both)

6 garlic cloves, peeled

1/2 white onion, finely chopped

2 Tbsp butter

4 cups of chicken broth

1/2 cup of tomato juice
4 cups basil(or more)

Heat an oven to 400F. Cut tomatoes in half & toss with olive oil, salt & pepper. Place tomato mixture on a baking sheet & roast for approximately 45 minutes.

In a large stockpot, saute onion & garlic in a little olive oil. Add butter when onions start to turn brown. Then add all the chicken broth, tomato juice, basil & roasted tomatoes.

Bring to boil, reduce heat & simmer for about 40 minutes.

Place soup in a blender, I had to do this in batches b/c there is a lot of soup & it wont all fit in the blender. Blend well, stir all batches together. Either serve hot, store in the fridge or freeze a portion of it.

I had some of the skins in the soup & maybe next time I will try to remove those. Some of the recipes I read said keep them on, some said strain all mixture through a sieve.

Anyway, I served the soup with ham & mozzarella cheese paninis. I love my grill pan!

You can see in the windowsill that I still have more tomatoes!