A friend of mine gave me nearly 40 pounds of tomatoes from her mom's garden so I've been using them up - canned 7 quarts of sauce, made a bunch of oven dried tomatoes, eggplant rollatini (a la Giarda Dilaurentis). Tonight's dinner is based heavily on an Emeril recipe. It's a very hearty wine friendly soup.
1 tbl EVOO
1 lb chicken italian sausage - remove casing and crumble
4 strips bacon - chopped
2 medium onions chopped
2 tbl minced garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
3 quarts chopped tomatoes (wash, but don't bother peeling)
4 cups chicken broth/stock
cilantro or basil - chopped
Put the tomatoes in a dutch oven with a cup of stock and bring to a boil. Simmer for around 10 - 15 minutes to soften. Then put the tomatoes in food mill to separate the peelings and seeds from the pulp and juice. Wipe the dutch oven out and add the oil to the pan. Heat it up and add the bacon. Cook for 2 minutes or so, then add the sausage and cook for around 5 minutes. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes until soft then add the garlic and herbs and spices. You could add red pepper flakes here and/or cayenne if you wanted the heat. Cook for another 3 - 5 minutes until really fragrant then add the tomatoes (should be around 2 1/2 quarts) and chicken stock/broth. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the kids get home from soccer/school, etc. (At least 1/2 hour). Adjust seaonings, I thought it didn't need any additional salt because of the sausage and bacon but your mileage may vary. Serve with a little chopped cilantro and a good sourdough bread. I served mine with a rustic Cote du Rhone which made a fine match.