Soup, and other comfort foods

So, I was asked to go ahead and post the recipe for the soup I served at the last event (which was comfort foods), but figured it might make more sense to at least include a summary of what was served. I'm doing this from memory, so I may be missing some of the specifics, which I hope that the others may fill in for me...

Anyway, we had 4 "teams" (I'd say couples, but I was flying solo on this one), and 3 courses from each:

Appetizers:

• Hush Puppies with spicy dipping sauce
• Fondue with breads and summer sausage
• Mini chicken pot pies
• Meatloaf en croute, aka Meatloaf Wellington, aka meatballs in puff pastry

Main:

• Mac and Cheese two ways ("German" (bratwurst, beer, and mustard) and, um, fancy? (prosciutto and gruyere))
• Case (sp?) casserole
• Chicken-fried steak with white gravy
• Grilled cheese with gruyere and prosciutto, served with creamy tomato basil soup

Dessert:

• Chocolate Meringue tart
• Angel food cake with amaretto strawberries and cream
• Lemon cake
• Lazy peach pie

All in all, a rather substantial assortment of foods. Rumor has it that one attendee actually determine via weigh-in that they ate about 2 pounds of food. What makes this amazing is that portion sizes were actually pretty small, but the food was just very "hearty" for lack of a better word.

Anyway, with that out of the way, here's the best I can provide for a recipe for the tomato basil soup (I was more or less eyeballing stuff, so I don't have exact amounts).

• 3 Tbs butter
• 1 onion
• 2 tbs flour
• 1 tbs tomato paste
• 1 big can (28 oz?) san marzano tomatoes (I used whole, crushed would've been better, but it's what I had on-hand)
• 2 c turkey stock (it's what I had on-hand - I made it from the Thanksgiving turkey, so I'm using it... any stock would be fine, I think)
• basil/thyme to taste (no idea how much.... let's say 15 leaves of basil and a few sprigs of thyme)
• salt/pepper to taste
• heavy cream to taste

Directions: Melt butter in heavy saucepan, add diced onions and cook until soft. Add flour, and cook for several minutes, but don't burn it!

Add tomatoes (with juice), tomato paste, turkey stock, basil, thyme, salt, and pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes, then blend to make smooth (I used the food processor, but I wish I had an immersion blender!). Once blended, return to heat, stir in cream (I started with about 1 cup, and added until I got the texture and flavor I wanted), add salt/pepper as needed to taste.

Not much of a "recipe," I'd guess, but a good starting point.