Hearty Garden Fresh Homemade Tomato Soup Or Sauce

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 large Spanish onions, chopped
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 4 stalks celery, chopped
• 8 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 red peppers, chopped
• 8 lbs fresh tomatoes (This is an estimate, the "true" measurement is a gallon ziploc bag full or whatever fills my 8 quart)
• 1 tablespoon basil pesto (pureed basil and garlic with a little olive oil)
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage
• 8 fresh thyme sprigs
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste (I used homemade, made with garlic and bay leaves)
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1 quart chicken stock or 1 quart vegetable stock

1. Saute first 5 ingredients in olive oil until soft in an 8-10 quart pot.
2. Make a bundle of the sage, thyme and bay leaves by wrapping them with string in cheesecloth (you can tie the string to a pot handle to make it easier to remove later).
3. Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours. Let cool.
4. Puree through a food mill fitted with a medium blade. The use of a medium blade gives you a soup with plenty of pulp (you can adjust blade size if you like). Reheat and adjust seasonings as needed. Add a splash of heavy cream before serving if you want cream of tomato soup.
5. If you don't have a food mill you can also make this a semi-chunky soup, but I'd recommend a smaller dice for onions, carrots, celery and red peppers.
6. To make a sauce, return to pot after pureeing and let it continue to simmer over low heat until it reaches the desired consistency.

olive oil, spanish onions, carrots, stalks celery, garlic, red peppers, tomatoes, basil pesto, fresh sage, thyme, oregano, bay leaves, tomato paste, kosher salt, ground black pepper, chicken

Taken from www.food.com/recipe/hearty-garden-fresh-homemade-tomato-soup-or-sauce-488496 (may not work)