Fresh from the Garden Tomato Soup

This recipe is so versatile. Spice it up or leave it a bit less-spicy and herby. Use less amounts of salt, or onion. Experiment for your own taste, but this soup is loved by everyone.
You can use any kind of tomatoes in fresh tomato soup, garden, or otherwise. In fact, this recipe I adapted from NathashasKitchen.com asked for canned crushed tomatoes. I used about 40 medium to small Roma tomatoes from my garden. Ripe grape tomatoes work great, too, and I've found that I like to use any combinations of grape or cherry tomatoes, including the multicolored heirloom type. I use four to six cups per recipe.

The whimsy of tomato soup is the fresh flavor and the garnish. This weekend I topped the soup with sourdough croutons, freshly chopped chives, chive stalks, and a sprig of basil. I felt a bit rushed to get it on the table, but I would have added a sprig of thyme, some chives, parsley or basil, and dolloped it with some Crème fraîche (or sour cream) and sprinkled it with freshly grated parmesan and bits of cooked bacon.  

Note to self: line up ALL the garnishes in advance. There's nothing worse than scurrying around getting garnishes when you are ready to serve.

Add 4 T butter, 2 T roasted garlic (or 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced, and 1-1/2 to 2 cups of finely diced onion to a pot such as a 4-qt enameled cast iron Dutch oven. Cook the onions and garlic until they are golden and soft. Add 4-6 cups or 40 small to medium quartered Roma tomatoes or whole grape or cherry tomatoes and 2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock, bone broth, or a substitute. (Add some white wine to this mix, if desired.) Cook until tomatoes are soft and simmering for about 1/2 hour. 

Add 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, reserving some top sprigs for garnish. Add 1 T sugar, a bunch of grinds of fresh pepper, and a combination of sea salts (herbed or seasoned.) Add tomato soup seasonings (dill, oregano, thyme, etc.) and a 1/4 tsp. celery salt or seed, and 1 tsp. of unsalted herbs de Provence. Taste test for flavor and seasonings. Adjust the salt as necessary and use less if any of the other mixtures contain salt. In the winter, spring or fall, if you don't have fresh herbs, dry your own in the summer to use.

Simmer for another 15 min. and then let cool. Use an immersion blender to blend in the pot, leaving it somewhat chunky with large bits or small, or blending until totally creamy if you desire.
Return to heat and add 1/2 cup heavy cream if you would like a creamier, lighter soup. Add some grated cheese of any kind if you prefer. Heat to melt all, but don't boil.

Garnish and serve. Also can be served cool. 

Revisions, additions, notations, etc.:
I roasted some halved larger grape tomatoes in the oven before tossing them in the pan. 

I also used about a cup of chopped fresh herbs from the garden: parsley, chives, rosemary, basil, and thyme. I dried this combination and chopped fine and saved it in a Mason jar (totally dried!). It makes an easy and fast delicious combination of herbs.

I also sauteed about four garlic cloves with the onion (instead of the roasted garlic) and added I added about 1 cup chopped tricolored peppers. You can also use some red pepper flakes for some heat.