Tomato Bisque

I have a business called Cindy’s Whimsies LLC. I’m going to self-promote for a moment: we make aprons, and goats milk soap; and we vend at craft shows and from our home. When we have to get lunch away from home, it’s a risk, since believe it or not, I am a picky eater.

While at a show, ages ago, we ordered lunch, and it was tomato bisque. What a change from the Campbell’s Tomato Soup I love right out of the can (with water or milk, since it’s condensed).

Sometimes you want a great tomato bisque, though, and adding basil to tomato soup just doesn’t do it. I’ve tried tomato soup from scratch in the Instant Pot too, and it was OK. This quick and easy recipe is the best we’ve had so far. I initially prepared this to serve with seafood ravioli. It came out perfectly, except the first time, I used too much cayenne! My husband loved it spicy!

Tomato Bisque

For 6 servings, you need these ingredients:

1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 cup diced Onion
½ cup diced Celery
3 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 (32 ounce) container Chicken Broth, or more as needed *I used Better than Bouillon
1 (28 ounce) can Crushed Tomatoes *I used tomatoes I froze during the summer
½ teaspoon Paprika
1 pinch Cayenne Pepper, or to taste *CAUTION: the longer the soup sits, the hotter it gets.
1 teaspoon White Sugar, or to taste 
½ cup Heavy Whipping Cream *I close my eyes and pour

Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper to taste

2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh Basil leaves, divided *I use all I want, I love basil. You can use dried basil, and it will be stronger than fresh

Directions:

To make this, take a large pot and put the oil in it. I used a food processor to really puree rather than dice the onion, celery, some basil, and garlic. Once the oil is heated, add the onion, celery, basil, and garlic. Sauté them a bit, and then add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, and sugar.

Let this simmer for 20-40 minutes. To smooth the tomatoes, you can put a mixer right in the pot, if it’s nonstick, or you can use a stick blender, or else you can take the whole shebang and put it in your blender. The idea is to make it creamy and smooth. Once it is there, place it back in the pot, make sure it’s warmed to serving temperature, remove from heat, and then stir in the whipping cream. This can be refrigerated and reheated on low heat as a leftover. The idea is to avoid overheating the cream. It will still taste good, but it won’t be as attractive if you overheat it.

You can enjoy this with croutons, crackers, or garlic bread… or you can serve it over tortellini or ravioli!