Last-of-the-Tomatoes Roasted Tomato Soup

I’ve had five Roma tomatoes sitting in a paper bag on my kitchen counter for a couple months now. When I ripped out my tomato plants, I took the green tomatoes still on the vine and put them in the bag to ripen. Since I don’t like to eat raw tomatoes in any way, shape, or form, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them.

Then a couple weeks ago I had a bowl of roasted tomato soup at a restaurant and liked it so much that I decided to try making it. I used this recipe from Creative Loafing, but used fresh basil instead of bay leaves to season it. I had to add about a pound and a half of store-bought Romas to my home-grown ones, and the recipe calls for a can of crushed roasted tomatoes as well. If I were making this in the summer or fall when I had more home-grown tomatoes, I would probably leave out the canned ones since they wouldn’t be necessary to boost the flavor. If I were making this recipe again, I would also cut down a bit on the amount of red onion—maybe just one small one instead of two.

But all in all, I was pleased with the way the soup turned out and it was definitely easy to make. With some french bread on the side, it makes a great meal for a winter’s night.