Tomato Bisque Soup

Originally posted by Modern-Day Ma on February 8, 2016

What I secretly love most about soup for dinner is that it’s almost a full meal in one pot. Add some bread and/or a salad on the side and you’ve got dinner in 30 minutes. The cleanup is a snap and the leftovers are always in demand, unlike other meals that end up taking up valuable fridge and Tupperware real estate until you guiltily toss them a week later.

Tomatoes are the number one reason I grow a garden. I eat them daily during the summer months, which makes it all the more inexplicable that until this year I could not make a homemade tomato soup that I actually liked.

Enter: bacon. It really is the key to deep flavor here. While you could leave it out and add a dash of smoked paprika to appease any vegetarians in the crowd, it wouldn’t be quite so delicious.

Tomato Bisque

4 Tablespoons Butter
1 onion, diced
2 slices bacon
4 cloves garlic
5 Tbsp all-purpose flour
5 cups chicken stock or other type of broth
28 oz can chopped tomatoes
3 sprigs fresh parsley or 2 tsp dried
3 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried
1 bay leaf
1 cup heavy whipping cream
salt and pepper to taste

Cook diced onion in butter for about 5 – 6 minutes or until it softens and begins to brown.

Add bacon and garlic and stir for another minute or two or until the bacon gets crisp.

Sprinkle flour over all and stir for 1-2 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan to avoid scorching.

Add tomatoes and broth, whisking constantly.

Add herbs and simmer about 30 minutes.  Remove bay leaf.

Puree the soup either in a blender (in batches) or with a handheld immersion blender

Stir in the heavy cream and salt & pepper to taste.

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