The weather has turned, and fall is in the air! The crispness in the air makes me want to wrap up in a comfy sweater and scarf, have warm cozy meals, drink apple cider, eat pumpkin stuff, and watch scary things. I love fall! One of the cozy meals I love to eat in the cool weather is soup. I love lots of different soups, but one of my very favorites is tomato basil bisque. On a recent trip to Costco, I saw a huge 6 + pound can of tomatoes and knew that I had to give homemade tomato bisque a try. (Side note, I should NOT be allowed to go to Costco by myself. I become way too drawn in to buying in bulk. 2, 4 pound jars of roasted red peppers, yep! A huge wheel of Brie, with no party in site, you bet! 5 pounds of buffalo chicken bites, can’t pass that up! You get the picture. A person who lives by themselves shouldn’t start thinking about where a deep freeze could fit into the apartment!!)
But I digress. Back to the maters. At first I was thinking I would split the ginormous can of tomatoes between this soup and tomato sauce, but when I started to cut open and seed them I decided to only go for the bisque. I wanted to bulk up the soup a bit, so I added cheese tortellini into the bisque (a little inspiration from pinterest!).
These measurements made almost a whole big soup kettle, and could generously give 6-8 servings (even more if you are serving a nice big oozy grilled cheese!).
1 gargantuan can of tomatoes (ok, 6 pounds)
Fresh basil leaves
1 red onion
2 – 2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
A little red wine
Cheese tortellini
Cut open the tomatoes and scoop out the seeds (it helped to cut down on the bitterness while the tomatoes roast) and place the tomatoes into a pan. Drizzle with a little olive oil and place basil leaves around the pan. Roast in the oven for 90 minutes at 300. The can will probably have a good bit of sauce in it with the whole tomatoes, leave that in the can.
While the tomatoes are roasting, melt better in a large heavy bottom soup kettle. Finely dice the red onion while the butter melts, and add to the pan. You really want to soften the onion, which will take 15-20 minutes at least. You don’t really want to caramelize it, just soften it (having the right amount of butter helps). Add in the tomato sauce from the can. Bring the heat up slightly. When the tomatoes are done, crush them a little more, they will be really soft so it won’t take much (I used a potato masher). Add them into the pot. Add in the milk and cream and stir until combined. Bring the heat up a bit to really combine the flavors and thicken it a bit. I threw in a little red wine in the mix, I mean why not!? Add in more basil to the pot. I like a chunkier soup, so I left it at that step. If you’re on team chunk (hey you guyyyysssss), ladle in a big bowl and enjoy! If you want something very creamy, use an inversion blender or add small amounts to your blender. If you use a regular blender, you don’t want to fill it completely, because it will expand a bit. Reheat the soup a bit after this stage and then enjoy!
I boiled cheese tortellini in chicken broth (to really add to the flavor) and water. I added this to the soup once it was done.
This soup does take a good bit to complete, but the active cooking time is very minimal. The smell of the roasting tomatoes is so inviting and gets you so ready to enjoy this soup!!
Hang Onto your fork 