The other day I had the most scrumptious bowl of tomato bisque soup for lunch and ever since I’ve been craving more. Tomato bisque is one of my favorite potage–right up there with French onion, Thai coconut chicken, pasta fagioli and a cream of garlic that is the famous dish of Mary’s, a farmhouse restaurant in Bristol, Vermont. If you’re ever in the Green Mountains you should swing by and get some.
Since it’s not tomato-picking season I had to use canned for my soup–unfortunately I didn’t have any san marzano canned tomatoes(which I really do think tastes better than any other kind) so I went with some regular old imported Italian plum tomatoes.
I mostly followed a recipe from a special soup & stew issue of Fine Cooking:
I mostly followed a recipe from a special soup & stew issue of Fine Cooking:
-a chopped onion and a smashed/peeled clove of garlic sauteed in a tblsp of unsalted butter until soft.
-add a couple of tablespoons of flour and stir to coat the onion mixture
-add 28oz can of pureed tomatoes, a couple of tsps of sugar, 3 cups of broth (chicken or veggie), a couple sprigs of thyme or tarragon or a bunch of basil left on the stem, salt and pepper to taste; bring to a simmer.
-turn the heat down to low, cover and simmer for about 40 minutes.
-puree soup with a wand if you have one (get a plug-in kind if you don’t, the rechargeble variety is more mobile but loses its juice fast), being careful not to splatter
-stir in a big spoonful of creme fraiche
-serve sprinkled with chives, if you’d like
-I also made some dilitani pasta (the mini tube shape, perfect for soup) and added that to the soup as well before serving it sprinkled with pecorino and a slice of toasted baguette floating on the side.
Now if I can only get that cream of garlic recipe…anybody got one?
Now if I can only get that cream of garlic recipe…anybody got one?
