Fire Roasted Tomato Basil Soup

I've been all about soup lately.  Rob isn't really a big fan, unless it's Tomato Soup.  However, he loves the canned congealed version of tomato soup, which, I'm sorry, is just not going to work for me.  I'm not a huge fan of tomato soup, and I'm pretty certain that the canned version is why.  Maybe it's good, but I'm not going to find out - not if I have to open the can at least!  Same reason I have a hard time with cranberries, because I've seen too many canned cranberry sauces as well.

To get soup on the dinner table and actually get Rob to try it I figured I'd make a tomato soup.  I stumbled across this fire roasted tomato soup on The Novice Chef and figured this would please both Rob and I.  Flavor wise I really liked it.  Rob seemed to as well.  The only issue was that I don't have an immersion blender so I used the food processor and apparently didn't process it enough.  Neither of us are beg fans of tomato chunks, so that was a little hard for us to deal with.  However, that's totally my fault for not paying enough attention.  Overall though, the flavors were great, and I'll gladly make this again, but maybe after I get an immersion blender (which is on my Amazon wishlist, btw!)

The subtle heat from the fire roasted tomatoes and the full flavor from the basil and garlic really add a lot to this soup.  I only made half a batch but I would imagine this freezes really well also!

Fire Roasted Tomato Basil Soup
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, chopped
3 (14 oz) cans of hunts' fire roasted tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup half and half
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
20 fresh basil leaves, chopped
salt & pepper

Directions:
In a heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat, saute onion in olive oil until translucent.  Add 5 cloves of chopped garlic and saute with the onion for 2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and their juice to the pan and cover for 15 minutes, stirring as needed.  Add the chicken stock and half and half, bringing to a simmer.  Cook uncovered for 10 minutes of until it has thickened.

Add the remaining garlic, crushed red pepper, basil and season to taste with salt & pepper.  Lower your heat to medium-low and cook for 5 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, or carefully transfer soup to a blender/food processor, puree soup until there are no large chunks of tomato left.  Serve immediately.

Source: The Novice Chef