Creamy tomato soup

There’s nothing better to do with a surplus of homegrown tomatoes than make tomato soup. I can only eat so many of them fresh. This year we have a super abundance of tomatoes. We harvested 25 pounds just in the last week! I will be making this soup a lot this summer. So much so that I decided to buy a food mill to make the straining step easier.

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The soup is so creamy and smooth if you spend the extra time to strain out the seeds and peels that don’t disappear after blending. The touch of cloves added at the end gives it a special flavor that really boosts the tomatoes. The next time I make it, I’m going to experiment with a dairy free version using coconut milk and leaving out the sugar. (Update: I tried it and it's great! Substitutions are given with the recipe below.) I highly recommend this recipe, even for canned tomatoes. It’s my go-to recipe for more than a decade.
 
Please share in the comments if you make it!

Update July 11, 2018: I've made a Whole30 version of this several times now and it's just as good. Substitutions are added to the ingredients in parentheses.

Tomato soup
Recipe modified from Parade August 2000 via Epicurious
 
Makes 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients
 
2 tablespoons butter (for Whole30 use olive oil)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons flour (or arrowroot powder or tapioca starch)
3 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes, chopped (fresh is best but canned is good too)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup half-and-half (or coconut milk)
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Directions
 
Melt the butter with the oil over low heat in a large pot. Add the onion and wilt over low heat for 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic during the last 2 minutes, stirring. Sprinkle with flour and cook 3 minutes longer, stirring. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cover. Cook over medium-low heat for 30 minutes. Season with cloves, salt, and pepper. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Purée the soup in a food processor or blender. Pour through a strainer into a pot. Stir in the half-and-half. Serve warm.