Roasted cherry tomato soup.

I got into town a littler earlier than I planned this afternoon, so I stopped by the market. There were these gorgeous cherry tomatoes on the vine -- a carton for £1. Not bad. So I stopped and requested some. The man gave me three cartons instead, still for just £1. What a deal! But then I had to figure out what to do with all those tomatoes. 

So I made soup.

Butter makes everything better.

Roasted cherry tomato soup

*adapted loosely from Tyler Florence's recipe

Ingredients:

2 cartons of cherry tomatoes (probably just over a pound)

1 small onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, whole

olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

3 tablespoons butter

1 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup whole milk (or heavy cream, if you're going for decadence)

basil

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F (about 230 C). 

Slice each tomato in half, and place cut side up on a foil-lined pan. Add diced onions and garlic cloves. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven for about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and place in a large(ish) pot. Add chicken stock. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the liquid is reduced by about half.

Use an immersion blender to puree the mixture until smooth (or still a little chunky, if that's what you like). If you don't have an immersion blender, put one on your Christmas wish list. In the meantime, you can let the mixture cool and puree it in a food processor or regular blender, then return it to the pot.

Add whole milk or heavy cream until you reach the consistency you like. Add basil and more salt and pepper to taste. 

Serve warm.

And preferably in a bread bowl.