Recip-YEE!

As promised, I want to post a recipe that will put to use your wonderfully homemade, loved herbs! Their yours. You have grown them. You have carefully raised them, and now you can eat them. As Poison once said, "Open up and say ahh!"
This recipe contains my FAVORITE herbs, basil, and its bestest friend, Mr. Tomato. I first fell in love with tomato basil soup from La Madeliene's in Dallas, TX, when my mother would take my sis, Shae, and I shopping for school clothes (yes, we had to drive 7 hours to get to decent clothing stores.) We would shop all day, and as soon as we started becoming short with one another and irritated, we knew it was time to eat. La Madeliene's soup was amazing. It was the perfect combination of sweet basil and tart tomatoes. However, I am pretty sure there was a fair amount of cream added to the mixture. With recipes, it is important to remember that by adjusting certain cooking techniques, you are able to leave out the high calorie ingredients but still have the mouth watering flavor. For instance, in the following recipe, instead of adding cream, you can roast the tomatoes to create fantastically, scrumptious soup.

Ingredients:
3 lbs of ripe plum tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp good olive oil
1Tbsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chopped yellow onion (2 onions)
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 (28 oz) canned plum tomatoes, with their juice
4 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss together the tomatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread the tomatoes in one layer on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.
In an 8-quart stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the butter, and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown. Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, and chicken stock. Add the oven-roasted tomatoes, including the liquid on the baking sheet. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Pass through a food mill fitted with the coarsest blade. Taste for seasonings. Serve hot or cold.

Recipe from Ina Garten's The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook