Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup

First you’ll need to roast the tomatoes and garlic. Place quartered tomatoes skin side down on 2 foil-lined cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for one hour. The skins will turn lovely and dark brown. Throw the garlic cloves in with the tomatoes.

While the tomatoes are cooling, saute the shallot, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper with the butter in a large pot. Once the shallots are softened, add the whole roasted peppers to the pot. Peel the skins off of the roasted garlic cloves and toss those in the pot. Add in the roasted tomatoes as well as either the sun-dried tomatoes or the tomato paste. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Simmer over medium-low heat for 20 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Using an immersion blender to process the soup until smooth. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can process the soup in batches in either a traditional blender or with a food processor. Just be careful not to burn yourself.

Once the soup is blended smooth, it will be incredibly rich and velvety. If you are feeling wild, you could stir in 1/2 cup of either cream or half-and-half … but the soup is very rich and satisfying on its own.

I like to serve this with a nice crusty sourdough toast. Crackers or cornbread would go nicely as well.