I’m kinda excited that winter is coming. I mean, I really love grilling outdoors in the summer, but there is something special about filling the fireplace with wood and curling up with a good book or a game by the fire for the day. My wife and I just finished restacking our firewood last weekend, so we are all set for the winter! I’m also looking forward to the first snow of the year. Don’t you just love how peaceful it is outside after it snows? I grew up in the South, and we didn’t see snow all that often…so it’s still a treat for me when those first few snowflakes start to fall. Note that I said I am looking forward to the first snow, though. After that, snow just means shoveling…and I am most certainly not a fan of shoveling!
Whether I’ve been outside shoveling snow or curled up by the fire, few things can top a steaming bowl of this Tomato Basil Bisque for lunch. Throw in a grilled cheese sandwich, and I’m pretty much good to go! My wife and I used to just go with canned tomato soup, but that was before I realized exactly how easy it is to make your own. Not only is it cheaper, but the flavor really beats the heck out of the canned stuff! And it only takes about 30 minutes to make a huge batch of soup that you can enjoy for the rest of the week.
I like to garnish this Tomato Basil Bisque with a bit of sour cream or pesto. (If you’ve never tried pesto as a garnish, then you definitely need to! Check out this post for a delicious pesto recipe.) I went with sour cream this time, and with Halloween almost here, I decided to have a bit of fun. I just piped several circles of sour cream and then pulled a skewer through the circles to create this spider web design. I love getting into the Halloween spirit!
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, diced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 cup basil leaves
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 3 slices bread, torn into small pieces
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 5-6 cups vegetable stock
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 2 tsp milk
Instructions
- Place olive oil in a large saucepan or stockpot over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and carrots. Cook until onions are translucent in color (about 7-10 minutes).
- Add crushed tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir and increase heat to medium-high. Bring mixture to a boil.
- Add basil leaves, oregano, bread, salt and pepper. Add 5-6 cups stock, depending on how thick you want the bisque to be. Stir and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 20 minutes.
- Using an immersion blender, process the bisque until smooth.
- Stir in heavy cream.
- Garnish with Sour Cream Topping
- In a small bowl, combine the sour cream and milk. Stir until smooth.
So…you have created my ultimate winter night dinner!! Minus the fresh rosemary slice of bread from Wegmans of course. We are now officially friends. Thank you!
PS: Winter’s first snow is the only peaceful and beautiful snow. After brushing it off my car, I’m over it and wishing it away already.
hehe…thanks, Zainab! I wish we had a Wegmans over here. Everyone raves about it, but I still haven’t experienced it yet.
p.s. so glad we are now official friends!! 🙂
Hi David,
It’s been awhile. What kind of bread do you use for this? Would seasoned bread crumbs work as well? I may have to try it soon.
Hey Janet! Great to hear from you. 🙂 You can honestly use any kind of bread you’d like for this. I often have sourdough around, so I use that…but any standard bread would work fine. I’m not sure about seasoned bread crumbs…but I suspect those would work. The bread is mainly there as an easy way to thicken the soup up without using a ton of cream. I haven’t made these bisque yet this year…thanks for the reminder to make a pot soon!