When Luke came home from the farmers’ market with 10 pounds of second tomatoes, we had to figure out something to do with them. Roasting all the tomatoes seemed like a good idea, and then we found this soup recipe in a book cleverly named Soup by Debra Mayhew. It was a pretty quick (besides from the time roasting) and tasty dish to make. You can roast the vegetables in advance and let them cool, then leave them in a covered bowl in the refrigerator overnight before pureeing.

Instead of pureeing the tomatoes in the food processor, we used our food mill. The advantage of the food mill is that it helped remove the skins. We had so many tomatoes that we had a bunch of leftover sauce. We did something fun with the leftovers, but you will have to check back to see what it was!

ROASTED TOMATO AND PASTA SOUP

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ripe Italian plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
• 1 large red bell pepper, quartered lengthwise and seeded
• 1 large red onion, quartered lengthwise
• 2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/4 quarts vegetable stock or water
• a good pinch of sugar
• scant 1 cup small pasta shapes, such as elbow macaroni
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• fresh basil leaves, to garnish

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spread out tomatoes, red pepper, onion, and garlic in a roasting pan and drizzle with the olive oil. Roast for 30-40 minutes until the vegetables are soft and charred, stirring and turning them halfway through.
2. Tip the vegetables into a food processor, add about 1 cup of the stock or water, and process until pureed. Scrape into a strainer placed over a large saucepan and press the puree through into the pan. [Alternatively, you can use a food mill.]
3. Add the remaining stock or water, sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. [We also added a little sherry vinegar, which added some depth to the soup.]
4. Add the pasta and simmer for 7 to 8 minutes, or according to the directions on the package, stirring frequently, until al dente. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve hot, garnished with the fresh basil leaves.