Roasted Tomato Soup

This recipe yields 6 to 8 servings. 

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Ingredients :
3 lbs of tomatoes, (mix of cherry, plum, grape, vine ripened, etc*)  
4 large cloves of garlic (3 whole, 1 minced)
3 large shallots, cut in quarters
3 small celery sticks, peeled and chopped(a little more than a cup) 
2 small carrots, peeled and copped(a little more than a cup)
½ large onion chopped
6 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
32 oz of good vegetable stock, unsalted(home made or my preferred brand is Kitchen Basics)
3 cups water
1/3 cup heavy cream
¼ tsp crushed Aleppo pepper* 
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil

Directions :
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Cut larger tomatoes in half or ¼ depending on the size.  Leave grapes and cherries whole.  Spread tomatoes, 3 garlic cloves, shallots and thyme on a baking tray.  Drizzle 3 tbsp of oil and  season with salt and black pepper. Roast for 30 min or until the tomatoes and shallots start to lightly caramelize.
While the tomatoes are roasting, in a large pot, add 2 tbsp of olive oil, minced garlic, chopped onion, celery, carrots and bay leaves.  Season with salt and black pepper and stir  Cook until softened.  Add the liquid(stock and water) to the pot.  Let gently simmer for 10 min. 
Once the tomatoes are done, remove tray from oven, remove the thyme stems, just use the leaves. Add the contents of the tray to the pot and bring to a simmer   Cook for 10 more minutes.  Turn off heat and remove the bay leaves from the pot.  Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth.   Add cream and the Aleppo pepper.  Adjust the seasoning by adding more salt if needed.  You most likely will need to add more salt.
Garnish with a few drops of cream and a pinch of Aleppo pepper. 
*Note -  for this recipe, I used yellow and red grapes, plum and sweet vine ripened tomatoes. You can use Cayenne as a substitute for Aleppo pepper, but reduce the amount of cayenne as it is spicier than the Aleppo.