Roasted Tomato & Eggplant Soup

Given that February is heart health month I wanted to make a tomato-heavy soup as recent research has shown tomatoes and heart health go hand in hand because they're rich in lycopene. Also, Lent started this week and as every good (or bad) Catholic knows, we're not supposed to eat meat on Fridays during Lent (for reasons that I've never been able to understand), so I wanted to stick to a meat-less soup (though I used chicken broth since it was all I had in the house, so I guess this makes me a bad Catholic, what else is new).  February is also Black history month, but I'm not sure how to make a soup for that. Maybe the gumbo from a few weeks ago can count as my black history inspired soup since okra is an West African vegetable. Regardless, here's a tasty roasted tomato & eggplant soup.

For this gem you'll need, 5 ripe tomatoes, 1 large eggplant, 1 head of garlic, 1 medium onion, some basil, 6 cups of broth of your choosing, 1 small can of tomato paste, 1 can of cannellini/Great Northern beans, 1 small parmesan or other hard cheese rind, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper and oregano to taste.

First, peel the eggplant. I normally don't peal anything, but eggplant peel is really tough and doesn't taste that great.

Then, cut into large cubes and set aside in a large bowl.

Next, slice the onion into big chunks. Put these in the bowl with the eggplant.

Now, cut the tomatoes in half and remove the seeds.

Chop into large pieces and place in the bowl with eggplant and onions.

Pour a healthy amount, probably about half a cup of extra virgin olive oil onto the veggies. Season with salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flake and oregano to your liking. Stir it all up to coat.

Place in a large baking dish and set aside. Now is probably a good time to preheat your oven to 350.

Now, get the garlic ready for roasting. I stole this from Carla's blog, so if you want better instructions, you can find them here: http://ilpiattoblu.blogspot.com/2010/02/whole-roasted-garlic.html. Chop the top  from a head of garlic, coat in olive oil, place in a cute little ramekin, and season with salt and pepper.

Place the veggies and garlic in your hot oven and roast for 45-55 miutes. My garlic took 45 minutes, whereas the veggies took 55. While we're at it, let's discuss how clean this oven is. I'm sure this won't last since we've only had this oven for less than a month, but its oh so pretty.

About 30 minutes into cooking, all these veggies started to smell lovely and the adorable puppy got interested.  Also, its finally warm and sunny in Atlanta and he loves to sunbathe.

Anywho, once roasted, your garlic should look something like this:

And the veggies should look like this:

Put these aside to cool a bit and get working with the soup. In a big soup pot over medium heat, pour 6 cups of broth. Add the can of tomato paste and stir to mix.

Next, rinse and drain your beans and add them to the soup. I added beans to the soup to add a bit of protein and make this a tad more hearty. If you don't like beans, just leave them out but be prepared for the soup to not be the least bit filling.

Now, add your roasted garlic. Its pretty easy to get the cloves out with a fork, or you can try squeezing the garlic bulb to make the cloves pop out, but I find that technique to be inefficient and unsuccessful. I really like garlic so I added all the cloves, but if you don't like garlic quite so much, just add a few and eat the rest on some toasted bread, its delicious.

Next, add the roasted eggplant, tomato and onion.

Season with some shredded basil. I used about 6 big basil leaves and shredded them by hand.

Blend all the veggies with a stick blender until the soup is nice and smooth.

Throw in the parmesan rind, reduce heat to low, and simmer for at least 30 minutes. The longer you simmer the more lovely cheese flavor you'll get. So if you have free time, let this baby hang out on the stove for a while. I also had to add a bit more salt.

I wasn't ready to eat the soup when it was done since it was so beautiful outside that I just had to go running. Hence the packaging in some fantastic glass bowls for storage and eating later. When I actually sit down to eat this soup, I'm certain I'll top it with some shredded or shaved parmesan and maybe some fresh basil. Enjoy!