Roasted Tomato Meatball Soup

Every Wednesday I make soup.

We have soup because Wednesday nights are busy, soup is fast and it having a 'soup night' takes some of the guess work out of what to make for dinner.

This past Wednesday's soup was particularly good.
It is an oven roasted tomato and red pepper puree with tons of mini meatballs thrown in.

Pretty simple but really different than most of the other soups I make.

I added about a cup of cooked rice and balsamic vinegar right at the end.

It's a most filling soup. I served it with naan and some of Shaida's delicious yogurt.

Roasted Tomato Meatball Soup 
(Eat Shrink and Be Merry Cookbook)

2 Cans San Marzano Tomatoes, drained (I kept the juice and cooked it down for tomato paste) or 8 roma tomatoes chopped
2 large red bell peppers, coarsely chopped
1 large red onion, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp thyme

 2 cups beef broth
1 can V8 juice
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped or (2 tsp dried)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 C cooked rice, optional
salt, pepper- to taste

 Meatballs:

1lb extra-lean ground beef
1 chopped green onion
1/4 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
1 egg
1/2 tsp each thyme and oregano
salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 450.

Cover a sheet pan with parchment paper and, on it, toss together tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, oil and herbs.
Roast in a single layer for 15 minutes. 
Stir and turn oven onto broiler. Broil veggies for another 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, prepare the meatballs. Combine all meatball ingredients and mix well. Form 48 mini meatballs. 
Remove veg from oven. Transfer the veg to a soup pot, add stock and blend with an immersion blender until well pureed. (or puree in a blender half at a time with 1 C stock each time) Add the rest of the soup ingredients.

Bring soup to a boil. Add meatballs. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until meatballs are cooked through - from 5 to 10 minutes.