Roasted Tomato and Beef Tortellini Soup

Wow, just awesome. I think Karen and I had about 3 bowls each of this.

1 lb. ripe plum tomatoes, halved*
1 red pepper, quartered and seeded
1 large red onion, quartered
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 F and spread out the above ingredients on a roasting tin and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 30-40 minutes (toss them around 20 minutes in) until soft and charred.

Tip the vegetables into a food processor, add 1 cup of beef stock, and process until smooth. Strain through a sieve over a large saucepan.

Add four more cups of beef stock, add 1 tbsp of sugar, and 1 tsp of salt. Toss in some fresh prepared beef tortellini (I used the Ziggy's brand from Loblaw's). Use less then you expect you will need...they swell up to about x3 the original size.

Simmer until the pasta is al dente (try one), and adjust seasoning with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve hot in warmed bowls, add a small pinch of cheese, and garnish with fresh basil leaves. I, alas, did not have any so I chopped up some chives.

* two cans of tomatoes if you can't get nice ripe fresh ones...unripe nasty grocery store tomatoes are much worse then canned ones. You would have to skip the roasting of the tomatoes and just do everything else, still.