A. Soup. A Week. Roasted Tomato and Garlic

This week, the weather outside had been too cold for comfort. Artic chill with below freezing temperatures. This soup is delectable and spicy and the perfect remedy for a cold winter’s day!

To me, tomato is the most refreshing, juicy, colorful, luscious and  delicious vegetable out there.  You can add it to  any dish,  and only enhance the flavors. Garlic is my favorite too… Mix them together and you got me hook, line and sinker!

This is the best soup I have made so far during A. Soup. A. Week.

It was so tasty, I just couldn’t stop eating it.

I came across this recipe a while back and have been wanting to cook it. After all the beans I ate last week during the Green Smoothie Challenge, this was a perfect non-bean soup to try this week. The original recipe that this is based on was wholly vegan. So you can make it vegan or use dairy like I did.

Ingredients:
2 lbs roma tomatoes (about 10-12)
1 large onion
1 head of garlic
1 can of coconut milk
1/2 cup cream (or just use more coconut milk)
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp  tomato paste or I used two crushed roma tomatoes
a little olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups water or broth

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Prepare a baking pan. Slice onion and lay out on the baking pan. Cut the head of the garlic, drizzle some olive oil and place in aluminium foil and cover. Place the garlic on a baking dish. Wash and slice the tomatoes and lay out on another baking dish. Lightly drizzle the onions and tomatoes with oil. Sprinkle some salt and pepper. Bake all three in the oven. Each takes different times so monitor. In my case the garlic and onion was done in about 40-45 minutes. Depending on whether you slice the tomato in half or smaller slices the time for baking differs. It can take an hour to hour and 10 minutes.

Transfer the onions, tomatoes and as much garlic as you want ( I used 3-4 roasted cloves) to a large pan. Add coconut milk and water (or broth) and tomato paste or crushed tomato and bring to a boil. Add garam masala, salt and pepper. Always adjust salt and spices by personal preference. Reduce flame and let simmer for 15-20 minutes. 5 minutes before removing from the flame, I added 1/2 cup sour cream. Use a hand blender or food processor to gently process for a second or two. Enjoy warm!