Roasted Eggplant Soup

On this gray day, I couldn't imagine anything cozier than a big bowl of roasted eggplant soup, with tomatoes and woody herbs.

I'm serving mine with Olive Rosemary bread made from the One-Day Bread Recipe (below). I just added 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary,  1/3 cup chopped, pitted, salt cured olives and used cornmeal on the towel. I am totally smitten.

Ingredients:
1 eggplant
1 vidalia onion
2 large smashed cloves of garlic
1 16 oz can peeled plum tomatoes (not to be silly.. but good ones with no additives or sugar)
1 small handful fresh rosemary and thyme, on stem
chicken stock
olive oil
salt and pepper (red and black)
parmesan cheese for grating

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coarsely chop the eggplant and vidalia onion. Place on cookie sheet (add tin foil for easy clean up), drizzle one generous tablespoon of olive oil on the top, and distribute evenly by tossing the vegetables with your hands. Salt liberally, and roast for 35 minutes or until a little more than the corners are brown and eggplant is soft (onion should still be a little crunchy--- we want texture, people!) Resist the urge to pick, especially the browned bits. You'll want those in the soup.

When veggies are out and and a manageable temperature, put them into a large saucepan with the garlic and herbs, and pour in chicken broth until veggies are barely covered. Bring to a simmer. Add tomatoes, simmer for 5 more minutes. Take off the heat, fish out the herbs, remove stems, add leaves back in, and blend (the easiest way is with an immersion blender.) Season with salt, red pepper flakes and cracked black pepper. Serve with grated parm and some yummy bread.