Roasted tomato soup with basil from ZUPAS

While we were out visiting Utah we went to Zupas with some friends and tried their roasted tomato soup-YUMM-OOOO!!!! So I decided to try to find a recipe for it since we don't have Zupas here in West Grove-well, Zupa's web site had it! Here's the link if you'd like to look at it: http://www.zupas.com/index.php/2009/09/recipe-roasted-tomato-soup/

Ingredients

• 4 lb tomatoes, halved lengthwise(Using plum tomatoes for this recipe will yield an intensely flavored soup)
  
• 6-8 garlic cloves, left unpeeled
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons fresh oregano, minced [use only 1/2 tsp if you used dried]
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, minced [use only 1 tsp if using dried basil]
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

Directions

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat to 350°F.

Arrange tomatoes, cut sides up, in 1 layer in a large shallow baking pan and add garlic to pan. Drizzle tomatoes with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast tomatoes and garlic 1 hour, then cool in pan on a rack. Peel garlic.

Cook onion, oregano, basil, and sugar in butter in a 6- to 8-quart heavy pot over moderately low heat, stirring frequently, until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, garlic, and stock and simmer, covered, 20 minutes.

Purée soup in batches in a blender (use caution when blending hot liquids), then force through a sieve into cleaned pot, discarding solids. Stir in cream and salt and pepper to taste and simmer 2 minutes.

It looks like a lot of work, but it was actually quite easy-the hardest part of this one was keeping Jason from screaming every time I turned on the blender :) We had grilled cheese sandwiches with this and it was delicious! Even Abi and Jason loved it!