Roasted Tomato Garlic Soup

By cooksalot

Ingredients

• 5 lbs. roma tomatoessliced in half lengthwise
• 1 whole garlic bulb
• 1 oniondiced or sliced
• 2 ribs celerydiced
• 2 carrotspeeled and sliced
• 2 leeksgreen top removed, sliced
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tbsp. fresh oreganominced, or more as desired
• 1 tbsp. fresh rosemaryminced, or more as desired
• 1 tbsp. fresh thymeminced, or more as desired
• 4 large leaves basilfinely sliced
• 2 tsp. pink Himalayan sea salt
• 1 tsp. dried parsley
• black pepperas desired
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 16 oz. low sodium tomato juice
• 5 tbsp. tomato paste
• freshly grated Parmesan cheesefor garnish
• fresh basil or thymeminced, for garnish
• Homemade Gluten Free Croutonsfor garnish, if desired

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 400°.
Spray a very large cookie sheet with olive oil cooking spray.
Wash and slice tomatoes and layer on cookie sheet.
Cut off the tip of the garlic bulb exposing the garlic.
Place on cookie sheet with sliced onion, celery, carrots and leeks.
Brush olive oil over top of all the veggies and tomato halves.
Sprinkle salt evenly over the tomatoes and veggies on the cookie sheet.
Sprinkle very delicately with pepper.
Add parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary and basil.
Bake at 400° for about 30-45 minutes or until veggies are tender and roasted.
Place roasted tomatoes, veggies and all the drippings and herbs into a large stockpot.
Heat over medium heat.
Add tomato juice, bay leaves, red pepper flakes and tomato paste.
Cook through about 10-15 minutes.
Remove bay leaves.
Using an immersion blender, puree soup until smooth.
Serve with homemade gluten free croutons or bread sticks.