No, it’s not just fancy tomato soup!! It is probably the best tomato soup you will ever eat.

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs. Fresh tomatoes, quartered
• 11/2 lb. Yellow onions, chopped
• 8 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 bay leaves
• pinch thyme
• 5 Tbs. Butter
• 4 C. heavy cream
• salt and white pepper
• 3 Tbs. Tomato paste, depending on ripeness of tomatoes
• 2 lbs. Frozen puff pastry
• 8-10 ovenproof soup crocks

Directions:

1. Cook onions in butter until soft, then add tomatoes and seasonings.
2. Cook slowly, uncovered, for four hours.
3. Run through a blender or food processor and strain.
4. Add the cream and correct the seasonings.
5. Bring to a boil and set aside.
6. Preheat oven to 450°.
7. Roll out pastry to about 1/8″ thick.
8. Paint the surface with an egg wash.
9. Cut circles of pastry about 2″ larger in diameter than the soup crocks (ovenproof) in which the soup will be served.
10. Cool the soup slightly; place it in the crocks.
11. Lay the circle of puff pastry on top of the crocks. Make sure the pastry is very cold or slightly frozen so it does not sink into the soup. The egg wash should be done so it helps form a seal between the bowl and the pastry.
12. Bake for 20  minutes in a 450° oven, or until golden brown. Do not open the oven during baking, as this will cause the pastry to fall.
13. Serve immediately. (Take frozen dough and soup to hosts house.  Heat soup, assemble and bake at hosts house.)

Serves:  8 – 10

Source:  A Visit to Provence – VPWL February 2015