Roasted Tomato Soup #15

Okay, here is tomato soup try 4!

The case:
2 lbs plum tomatoes
6 garlic cloves, peeled and whole
1/4 medium red onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 sprigs oregano, remove leaves from stem
3-4 basil leaves
salt
pepper
2 cups fat-free vegetable broth or fat-free chicken broth or water
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shaved or grated (optional)

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Wash and cut tomatoes, placing in a shallow baking dish cut side down.
3. Add onion pieces, garlic, oregano and basil to the pan.
4. Drizzle vegetables with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Bake for 45 minutes.
7. Place roasted vegetables in food processor bowl or blender and begin puree. Slowly add broth or water until soup has desired consistency. Continue blending until smooth. An immersion blender also works very well. (If you warm the broth first, the soup will be hot without reheating.).
9. Serve garnished with cheese if desired.

I took what I loved about the tomato soups I've made and added them to this soup. Mostly that was Parmesan cheese and half and half to the soup. Instead of two cups broth I used 1 cup broth and 1 cup half and half. I was very surprised that I felt like I needed to add more spices to this. I added more salt, pepper, oregano, and garlic powder- plus I ended up adding an extra can of tomatoes. After all of this it tasted much better, but still wasn't anywhere near as good as the Neelys I made last week.