Autumn Harvest Tomato Soup

In the fall of 2003 we had an abundance of tomatoes, as is typical of most gardeners this time of year. I had bottled all the tomatoes I wanted, made salsa till my face turned red, devoured all the caprese we wanted and still had some tomatoes that needed to be put to good use. I love anything tomato and thought it would be nice to concoct a good soup recipe. Me, with my lazy "I don't want to go to the store" attitude, wanted to try and use ingredients I always have on hand so I came up with this. My family loved it so much they told me I should send it to the local T.V. station to see if they would like it. I did and a few days later I got a call from the producer of the local morning talk show, Good Things Utah, asking me if I would like to make this on the show. Me, never the shy one, said of course I would love to do that. So here is what my daughter, Brinley calls "your famous tomato soup".
7 large, ripe tomatoes
3 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon Italian herb blend
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 beef bullion cubes
coarse ground pepper to taste
2 cups water
1 pint heavy cream
Parmesan cheese for topping
Blanch tomatoes and peel. In a 4-quart sauce pan mash tomatoes over medium heat and add all but last three ingredients. Bring to a gentle boil then let simmer for 30 minutes. Add water and cream, heat just until it starts to boil. Remove from heat. (I used my stick blender a tiny bit at this point to make it not so chunky). Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and eat with hot sourdough bread.
I use fresh basil and rosemary from the garden when I make it in the summer. In winter and spring, I use my tomatoes I bottled in the fall. My neighbor makes this year round for her family and just uses tomatoes from the grocery store. She says it is her families favorite.