Tomato Soup for a cold winter day

Temperatures are getting close to the freezing point, so I decide to pull the last of the tomatoes indoors and move everything else into the green house so I could get an extra month of harvesting.  Now that I have all these tomatoes, what to do with them?  I stubbled upon a Tomato soup recipe on pinterest and decided to give it a try.  My coloring of the soup  was more on the orange/redish side and I think that is because I didn't use enough tomatoes. Even though the recipe called for 4-5 tomatoes it didn't really tell you the size of tomatoes to use, I thought I would play it safe and I used 6 small tomatoes. The flavor of the soup was excellent, especially if you compare it to the store bought canned tomato soup.  Store bought soup tends to be a bit watering and this tomato soup I made is nice and creamy and has some thickness to it.  So, grab yourself a book and curl up to a nice bowl of tomato soup.

Fresh Tomato Soup

1 tbsp olive oil 
1/2 c onion, chopped
2 tbsp minced garlic 
4-5 c chopped ripe tomatoes, seeded (you can sub in some canned, if needed)
2 c chicken broth (or 2 c water and 2 chicken bouillon cubes)
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp (+) salt
pepper to taste

 1. Heat olive oil in stock pot, and cook onions and garlic til tender, but not browned. Add chopped tomatoes and chicken broth and simmer for 20-25 mins. Remove from heat and use food mill, immersion blender or regular blender to carefully puree mixture.

2. In separate small skillet, melt butter and add flour, cooking til light golden brown. Whisk in 1 cup of pureed tomato mixture slowly, ensuring that the mixture doesn't clump. When tempered, add mixture from skillet to the stock pot.

3. Add sugar, vinegar, basil, salt and pepper, and simmer 5 more minutes. Season to taste.