Tomato Bounty, part two

When my friend Patty arrived at My Beloved's birthday celebration with a nice big basket of lovely homegrown tomatoes soon after my pal Jeanne had enriched our lives with a nice big bag of same, I found myself in tomato heaven. I wanted to make something that would use up all those beautiful fruits since we have only three serious eaters in the household and one of us, the cat, turns up her nose at tomatoes.

I remembered a recipe for Spicy Tomato Soup that I had made years ago from my much-spattered copy of the hallowed Moosewood Cookbook, back in my almost-hippie phase. When I lived in Western New York I had visited Ithaca and eaten in the Moosewood restaurant - I was most impressed, so I bought the book. I remembered this soup as being really richly flavored and delicious, redolent of garlic, onion and dill.

When I opened the book, I discovered that it called for mostly canned tomatoes but I thought I could substitute fresh ones and make it even better. Unfortunately, that wasn't true - either my tastes have changed or using the canned tomatoes really is better. This time the soup, while beautiful to look at, was disappointingly flat in flavor. I'm thinking if I had roasted the tomatoes first, the soup might have had the rich tomato flavor I remembered. It looked beautiful in my black soup bowls from my pottery phase but, as my mother used to say, pretty is as pretty does.

For what it's worth, here's the recipe I used, mainly Mollie Katzen's but with the substitution of fresh tomatoes for the canned. Maybe you can think of ways to spice it up and make it a bit more interesting?

Not-So-Spicy Tomato Soup, adapted from the Moosewood Cookbook

1.5 cups minced onion
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 Tbs butter
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp dill weed
1/8 tsp (or more) black pepper
6-7cups chopped, skinned fresh tomatoes, plus their liquid
1 Tbs honey
1 Tbs mayonnaise or sour cream
yogurt, parsley and scallions for topping

Saute' onions and garlic, with salt, in combined olive oil and butter in a kettle or large saucepan. Cook five minutes - until translucent, then add dill, pepper, tomatoes and honey. Cover and simmer at least 45 minutes on low heat. Five minutes before serving, whisk in mayonnaise and taste to correct seasonings. Serve hot, topped with yogurt, parsely and scallions.