Roasted Tomato Soup

Tomatoes are so cheap right now as it's the height of summer. A strange time of year you might think to make a tomato soup but by evening there's been a little chill in the air and we like this tomato soup as a starter before dinner or a light meal on its own with toasted cheese sandwiches.
Roasting  really helps to intensify the tomato flavour and makes the garlic mellow and soft.
It's not really necessary to add the cream, but it makes it a little more indulgent, and harks back to that old childhood favourite, Wattie's condensed tomato soup.

Ingredients:

1.5 kg tomatoes
1 bulb of garlic
3 tablespoons of olive oil,
1 teaspoon of salt
1 large red onion chopped into chunks
2-3 tablespoons of tomato puree, or sundried tomatoes (pureed)
1 tablespoon of castor sugar
4 cups of vegetables/chicken stock
1/4 cup of cream
chopped chives

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C
Cut a cross in the bottom of each tomato. Put them into a large bowl.
Pour boiling water over the tomatoes, then put them in cold water straightaway. The skins should peel off easily.
Cut the tomatoes in half and put face up on an oven tray with the garlic
Drizzle with 1 tablespooon of the olive oil and the salt and roast for 40 minutes
Fry the onion in 2 tablespoons of olive oil over a gentle heat for 5 minutes.
Squeeze the garlic over the top and continue to fry over a low heat for 5 more minutes.
Add the tomatoes and 4 cups of vegetable/chicken stock.
Simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the cream ( Do not let it come to the boil again)
Process briefly in a food processor. Leave it a little textured rather than smooth.

Serve hot sprinkled with some chopped chives.