Tomato Leek Soup

I'm preparing for the blizzard that's coming today, not that I need a reason to make more soup. Typically I use regular yellow onion in this soup but I needed leeks for another recipe so I gave it a try. It's delicious but I need to remember to double it next time because it ends up being about 1 1/2 quarts in the end. 

Here's what you'll need:

8-10 plum tomatoes 

3 cloves garlic 

1 1/2 chopped leeks

Olive oil 

2 cups chicken stock

2 cups half&half

Salt, pepper, rosemary

Start by slicing the tomatoes lengthwise into 3-4 slices each. Lay the slices evenly on a parchment lined baking sheet along with whole peeled garlic. 

Season with salt and pepper, drizzle a bit of oil and bake at 400 for 30 minutes. While that cooks, clean your leeks. Cut off most of the green stalk, rinse sand from the outer leaves, slice them lengthwise and rinse again. Chop them up and let them sit in a bowl of cold water, swishing them to loosen any sand.    Let them sit a few minutes until the sand falls to the bottom of the bowl. Scoop them our carefully and drain on a towel. 

Heat a soup pot with a bit of oil, season and sauté leeks, add the roasted garlic and mash them as the leeks cook. 

Add the tomatoes and sauté with leeks for about 5 minutes, breaking them up with the back of a wooden spoon. Add 2 cups of stock, bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes. Add 2 cups of half&half and simmer another 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and it's time to blend the soup. I don't have a regular blender so I used my hand held emulsion blender. I think you'd be better off using a food processor or a regular blender because it took me forever to purée the tomato skin. 

You may need to add a bit more stock if it's too thick. That's it! It's so much better than canned tomato soup.