While we don't get hurricanes this far inland, we are just close enough to get a lot of the wind and rain. And it's well on it's way. I think we're supposed to see rain until next Thursday. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Rain equals soup. It's just that simple.
On Saturday, Joe, out of the blue, had a major craving for tomato soup. I, myself, have never been a tomato soup fan. I think it's because when my brother was little, he LOVED tomato soup, but he'd add ketchup and baby tomatoes to it. And that made me want to gag. Does that make my brother seem gross? he's not gross. He's awesome. Whatever. He's doesn't read my blog. So I guess he's not that awesome. I'm kidding. He's the best. ANYWAY - I looked up recipes and got a general idea of how to make tomato soup and discovered it's incredibly easy. Like, done in 30 minutes easy.
After making it over the weekend, I did some tweaking and turned this soup into a vegan tomato basil bisque. The results were creamy, rich, and full of flavor. This is not my brother's ketchup, baby tomato, canned soup. No sir.
Tomato Basil Bisque
- 1 tblsp olive oil
- 2 large tomatoes, diced (4 cups)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 tblsp minced garlic
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 3 tsp clove
- 1 cup basil leaves
- 3 tblsp coconut oil
- 3 tblsp flour
- 2 tsp honey
- salt and pepper to taste
In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and sautee until fragrant (about a minute). Add diced tomato and onions and cook until onions are translucent and tender (about 5 minutes). Add vegetable stock, clove, and basil and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer for about 20-25 minutes. Remove soup from heat and carefully pour into a blender and blend until completely smooth. Set aside. In the same large pot, heat coconut oil until melted. Then add flour and whisk constantly for about 5 minutes. It's really important to whisk constantly, otherwise the oil and butter will burn and will be unusable. Once you've mixed your oil and flour for about 5 minutes and they're starting to thicken, slowly pour in your tomato soup mixture while whisking the whole time to avoid lumps. Add honey and salt. Stir over heat until you've reached desired thickness and then remove from heat and serve.
Note: It's easy to make your own vegetable stock. I use about 8 cups of water, 3 or 4 carrots roughly chopped, an onion chopped, 3 or 4 celery stalks roughly chopped, corn cobs, and any other vegetables i might have lying around with no purpose. This is a good way to use up otherwise unusable things, like the tops of celery or corn cobs. Put the water and veggies in a large pot, season with salt and pepper, bring to a boil, and then simmer for about 2 hours. Strain the liquid into a jar or air tight container and use it the next time you need some rainy day soup!
Yeah, that's a grilled cheese sandwich made on that french bread I gave you the recipe for, with some goat cheese, ricotta, and Parmesan. NO BIG DEAL.
I MOST CERTAINLY DID NOT ADD THOSE GROSS THINGS TO MY SOUP THIS BLOG IS NOT A SOUNDBOARD FOR YOU TO SPREAD SALACIOUS LIES
ReplyDeleteNow that I think about it, you were probably thinking of hot sauce, which I did add. But never baby tomatoes. Why would I do that, that doesn't even make sense.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of ketchup. You might've done the baby tomato thing once to be funny, but it definitely happened. We have other sisters to back the story.
ReplyDeleteI love that you're reading the blog though! Who knew?! Love you, bro bro :)