Fresh Tomato Soup

There's nothing like a fresh garden tomato.  And I love them plain, on BLT's, in salads.  But at some point in the gardening season I'm overrun with them.  And then I turn to tomato soup to help me use up and enjoy all those tasty tomatoes!  This is a new recipe for me and I really enjoyed the addition of carrots.  I have to say that I really used this recipe more as a guide and adjusted the amounts based on what I liked, what I had, and what I needed to use up!

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, unpeeled and chopped
3 cloves minced garlic
12 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup packed chopped fresh basil leaves
3 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream

1.  In a large pot, heat olive oil on medium low heat.  Add onions and carrots and saute for 10 minutes.  Add minced garlic and cook for 1 minute.
2.  Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT cream and stir well.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove from heat.
3.  Using an immersion blender, carefully puree the soup.  If you don't have an immersion blender, use a regular blender to puree the soup (do this with half the soup, then the other half to avoid overfilling the blender).
4.  Add heavy cream to the soup and stir in well.  Serve with crackers, croutons, chopped basil, etc.

Source:  I Can Cook That