Recipe of the day: Slow roasted tomato soup

Ahhh.....tomato soup.  Nothing makes me feel more yummy than a hot bowl with the ubiquitous grilled cheese sandwhich.  For me, this is one of the great American classics, truly being able to meld some great staples, tomatoes, cheese, bread and of course.....butter.

I remember the first time I tried tomato soup, it was in the Zurich airport, of all places.  My roommate from high school, Jayne, and I were crossing the pond to go home for the holidays, and we had a lengthy layover in the aforementioned airport.  In the dingy airport lounge, she wanted tomato soup.  I had never tried it before, and as adventurous as I am now, as a child and teenager, my limitations on food were plentiful.  As a child I even went so far as to have numerous food "allergies"....my favorite memory of this was at my globetrotting friend Alice`s house, whose parents had so generously invited me over to dinner, only to serve Cous-cous (which I had never ever heard of).  When I saw the bowl of that glorious semola, I thought it looked like sand.  I promptly stated that I was "allergic" to cous-cous.  Ok, I was 11 or 12, and had no idea that I could possibly be a celiac, but that was highly doubtful since I consumed large quantities of pasta on a weekly basis, coming from a part Italian family.

Back to the airport, I remember perfectly the moment when the server placed our tomato soups in front of us.  My first thought was, it's so pretty.  That gorgeous red creamy liquid, topped with a dollop of sour cream, or most probably creme fraiche, and sprinkled with chopped chives.  All that steaming splendor wafting into my nostrils making me salivate even before I had tried it, for the first time I remind you.  Hence, after my first spoonful, I was most definately, absolutely hooked.  In the years to come, at college, I could never replicate that soup, because I imagine its like a drug addict, you are constantly looking for that first high.  I tried so many different canned versions, but none had that same, je ne sais quois, that led me on the road to pure love with my tomato soup.  On a trip to New York, I read in a guide that there was this tiny restaurant in the village that served the best tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches.....now that, I thought, is sheer genius!  Who doesn´t love a buttery fresh off the grill cheese sandwhich?  I made the trek down to the village, and placed my order.  I could hardly wait, the minutes ticked by like hours, and finally....there she was, my bowl of homemade tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwhich. 

What a disappointment.  The soup was so far from homemade, chunks of canned tomato in this brackwater broth, overdosed with oregano.  And the grilled cheese.....well, the only way you can mess up a grilled cheese is to use kraft singles, (to you Europeans....it isn't even cheese, they call it processed cheese food) which they did, and for it to be soggy, which it was. 

So, last night, having a hankering for tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwhich, I decided to make my own ACTUAL home made version.  I think it turned out to be brilliant, it even had that lovely reddish orange color that I loved, but I decided to use a different garnish, just cause I loooooove avocados.  So, here goes the recipe:

Slow roasted tomato soup
Serves 2

7 plum tomatoes or vine ripe (get the reddest ripest ones you can find, plum works best because it has less seeds and more pulp)
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/8 cup light cream
1/2 hass avocado, chopped into 1 inch cubes, for garnish (you can use an infinate amount of ingredients for garnish, oh, like bacon, basil, thyme, chives, fennel, bread crumbs, goat cheese....I could go on and on)

Preheat your oven to 300 deg. farenheit (150 celsius).  Wrap your oven roasting tray in tinfoil, and put the tomatoes on the tray and pop into the oven.  Roast for at least an hour. When done, take them out of the oven and let them cool.  When they are cold enough to handle, peel them, chop them into quarters and seed them, but place all the seeds and the liquid that comes out into a bowl, reserve. Meanwhile, chop your onion, and in a frying pan add the olive oil.  When it´s hot, add the onion and sauté over low heat until transluscent, 10-15 minutes.  Bring you stock to a boil in another saucepot, and then lower to a simmer.  When your onion is soft, add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 2 mins. approx.  Then add your tomato quarters, and strain the seeds to you get all the liquid into the frying pan.  Mush the tomatoes with the back of the spoon as you are cooking.  Add a little salt, and cook for about 10-15 minutes.  When all the flavors are melded together, place your tomato mix into the saucepan with your broth, and bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer, for at least 20 minutes.  When done, with an immersion blender ( or regular one if you don´t have an immersion blender) puree until it is really really smooth.  Take off the heat and mix in the cream, taste for salt, add the pepper.  Serve into the bowls and add the chopped avocado, and have yourself a delicious grilled cheese dipped into your fresh and easy tomato soup!  Bon appetit!

BTW, tomorrow, I am going to attempt to make turkey croquettes, in honor of my current country of residence, to make good use of all that leftover turkey!