Momma Lindquist's Creamy Tomato Soup

[puppytown]

Again, under the cut. And this time I Googled it first! This is the soup I served at Book Club.

Creamy Tomato Soup
Serves 6
Preheat oven to 400F (200C)

1T. olive oil
6 ripe tomatoes (2 lbs. or 1 kg.) cored and quartered
1 medium leek, white an light green part only, choppped
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled (WHATEVER) and coarsely chopped
1 stalk celery including leaves, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper (oy, as if)
Pinch nutmeg
3 c. chicken or vegetable stock
1 c. light (15%) cream
1 T. chopped fresh herbs such as parsely, basil or chives

1. Drizzle oil over bottom of a large shallow roasting pan. Add tomatoes, leek, onion, carrot, celery and garlic; season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Except if you plan to share this with mouseman, in which case you can safely omit the nutmeg and it won't hurt anything. Seriously, you won't miss it.
2. Roast, uncovered, in preheated oven; stirring often, for 1.25 hours or until vegetables are very tender, but not brown. Aw, hell, brown 'em if you want. I burnt some of it last time and it was yummy.
3. Add 2 cups of the stock to the pan and scrub all the browned bits off the bottom and sides; puree mixture in batches, preferably in a blender or a food processor, until very smooth. Strain soup through a sieve into a large saucepan.
4. Add cream and enough of the remaining stock to thin soup to desired consistency. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Heat until piping hot; do not let the soup boil or it may curdle. Ladle into warm bowls; sprinkle with fresh herbs. Mary grates aged cheddar over the warm soup. Mmm.

I made this in my electric roaster and I used my frozen tomatoes from last year's bumper crop. FABULOUS.