Tomato Cheese Soup

Serves:

Ingredients:

28 oz 2 undrained and chopped tomatoes
1 Salt and pepper to taste
3 oz Cream cheese
1/2 ts Thyme
1/2 ts Rosemary
1/2 ts Basil
8 c Beef stock
1 ts White sugar
2 tb Flour
1 Large cooking onion diced
1/2 lb Mushrooms, chopped
2 tb Butter
1/2 Sweet red pepper diced
2 Cloves of garlic, minced
2 Stalks of celery diced
2 tb Butter
1 Parsley for garnish

Method:

Place the tomatoes, with juice, in a buttered oven-proof baking dish.
Add the celery, garlic and red pepper and cover and bake in a 325 degree oven for 25 minutes.
Saute the mushrooms and onion in the second batch of butter in a large stock pot for about 8 minutes.
While stirring, slowly add the flour and sugar, blending until mixture is very smooth.
Add the stock, basil, rosemary and thyme, stirring until soup comes to a boil.
Add the contents of the baked tomato pan from the oven and bring to a boil.
Cover and simmer the soup for about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a food processor, blend the cream cheese, salt and pepper until smooth.
Slowly stir the cream cheese into the soup.
Garnish with chopped parsley.
Yield: 12 hearty portions.