Roasted Eggplant Soup

I recently enjoyed the most delicious roasted eggplant in a restaurant, so when I saw this recipe I knew it was going to be on my Sunday rotation. 

Roasting the vegetables adds a whole new level of flavour. It's deep and rich and gave the eggplant -- usually a fairly bland flavour -- seem like a decadent treat. A lot of the commenters on www.allrecipes.com also suggested adding roasted red peppers to this recipe. I didn't have any on hand, but am confident it would be good. The flavours are really balanced out with the goat cheese, too.

The only thing about this soup is that it's thin. Because there are no potatoes in it, which are the thickening agent of many of my pureed soups, but on the other hand, it makes it a great carb free meal.

Ingredients

• 3 tomatoes, halved
• 1 eggplant, halved lengthwise
• 1 small onion, halved
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup heavy cream
• goat cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place tomatoes, eggplant, onion and garlic on baking sheet and brush with oil. Roast in oven until very tender and brown in spots, about 45 minutes.
• Scoop out eggplant pulp and discard skin. Place eggplant pulp, tomatoes, onion and garlic in large pot with thyme and chicken broth. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce and simmer until onion is very tender, about 45 minutes.
• Puree with an immersion blender, or in a regular blender in batches. Return to low heat and stir in cream. Season with salt and pepper.
• Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with goat cheese.

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com