Fire-Roasted Tomato Soup

Creamy Fire-Roasted Tomato soup
adapted from America’s Test Kitchen “Cream of Tomato Soup”

Serves: 4-6 Prep Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 45 Minutes

3 T butter
1 smallish onion- diced finely
1 (14.5 oz) can of fire roasted diced tomato Today I used fire-roasted with garlic. Mmm
1 (14.5 oz or 28 oz) can of diced tomato
1 T tomato paste (I use Amore double concentrated)
2 T flour
1 cup chicken broth
½ cup of heavy cream (if you use half and half or milk don't simmer at the end)

1. Melt butter in dutch oven or whatever pan use are using.

2. Add onions, cans of tomato with the juice drained, (reserving it for later,) and tomato paste. If you wanted to add a little brown sugar to this to up the sweetness 1 T could be added now.

3. Cook, stirring occasionally for 10-15 minutes, until the onion and tomato are starting to caramelize. It will caramelize better with the brown sugar, but I prefer it without.

4. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly stir in broth and reserved tomato juice.

5. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 10 more minutes. Or longer if you walked away and did something else, like wrote a blog post.

6. Puree the soup. I use an immersion blender, but you could puree it in a normal blender or food-processor (just do it in a couple of batches). If you were planning to make this soup for later, stop here. Freeze or store in refrigerator until ready for use. Reheat over low and continue on with recipe.

7. Slowly add the cream. Bring to a simmer and immediately remove from heat.

Season with salt, pepper, cayenne or anything else that strikes your fancy (to taste) and serve.

*I know this recipe takes longer than opening up a can of Cambell's, but it is so worth it. You could probably sneak some other veggies in there if you wanted. Mix it up, try it with 2 cans of fire-roasted tomato or use regular diced. Try it with Rotel for a spicy southwestern soup, or maybe add some basil and Parmesan cheese at that end. The sky is the limit! Enjoy!