Homemade Tomato and Red Pepper Bisque

Given the weather around the country today, this seems an appropriate recipe to share with you….

Ingredients:

3 tbsp olive oil

2 large onions, diced

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

8 cloves of garlic, minced

56 oz. canned tomatoes (I used some that I canned last summer)

1 cup chopped roasted red pepper

1 quart chicken stock

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste)

2 tbsp minced fresh basil, or basil from a tube, or 2 tsp dried basil

1/3 cup white rice, uncooked

4 slices of white sandwich bread

1 cup heavy cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat and add onions and carrots. Cook until the onions are translucent. Add minced garlic and cook one minute until fragrant. Add the next seven ingredients and simmer for 45 minutes, or until the carrots are soft. Add bread to the mixture and stir until the bread has absorbed the juices and is fully soaked. Process the soup in batches in a blender, or with an immersion blender until smooth. Return the soup to the pot and heat over low heat and add cream, salt, and pepper. Adjust other seasoning as necessary. Do NOT boil.

Obviously, this should be served with a delicious grilled cheese made with a rustic bread and flavorful cheese, like gruyere.

Alternative recipe:

I had tons of tomatoes from the garden that had ripened on the counter and needed a way to use them, so I roasted the tomatoes and some carrots.

I pulled out the carrots and put them in the pot with the sauteed onions and I sent the tomatoes through the food mill–I think that the skins give the finished soup a slightly bitter taste that I don’t like.

I cooked this until everything was good and soft and followed the recipe above from this point.