Roasted Tomato Bisque

I love tomato soup, particularly with grilled cheese sandwiches. Yum. I saw Jeff Mauro, aka, the Sandwich King, make this last year on his Food Network show. I immediately printed the recipe and stashed it away to make another day. Today was that day! One thing to note, I used fresh tomatoes (as I had extra from our CSA share) rather than canned tomatoes to make my roasted veggies. It worked great, but the canned version would work just as well. Give this one a try - it takes more work than opening a can of prepared soup, but when you taste it, you'll never want to go back!

Roasted Tomato Bisque (from Jeff Mauro)
Ingredients:
Two 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes, drained of their juices
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 shallots, quartered
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons dry sherry (I didn't have this, so I used madeira wine instead)
One 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 to 2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup heavy cream (I used half-n-half)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine the drained whole tomatoes, olive oil, light brown sugar, carrots and shallots, and toss to coat. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper. Place the vegetables on a silicone or parchment-lined baking sheet and roast until caramelized, about 30 minutes.

3. Heat a soup pot over medium heat. Add the butter and cook until foaming. Add the crushed red pepper and garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Then add the sherry. Cook until all the liquid has evaporated and the alcohol has cooked off, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the roasted vegetables, crushed tomatoes and 1 cup chicken stock. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 15 minutes.

4. Add the heavy cream and, using an immersion blender, puree the soup until uniform in texture. Add more chicken stock to adjust the consistency to how you like it.