Tomato Basil Soup

Prep: Rustic cut the onion, and celery. Peel, thin coin slice the carrot, and cut sweet potato to approx. 1 inch dice. Set aside

In a deep saucepan, add neutral oil, sweet potato, and carrots. Saut over medium-low heat until both soften a bit, then add: onion and celery. Continue cooking

When celery and onion soften, add tomato paste, and increase heat to full medium. As heat increases you want a slight burn of the paste on the bottom of the pan. Slight!!! Nothing crazy!

Once you get a decent char from the tomato paste, add chicken stock, and tomatoes.(do not drain tomatoes) Reduce heat to medium-low, and reduce stock a bit. This is where you build flavor through reduction of water in the soup.

Once youve reduced stock, add cream, reduce to desired consistency over a medium-low heat.

Once the soup is at the proper consistency, remove from heat. Let cool for 10 minutes, run the soup through a blender until creamy. The extra carton of stock is for loosening the soup if needed.

Place into proper container, and refrigerate. Garnish with basil/parmesan upon serving for best results!