Easy (long Cooking) Tomato Bisque

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
• 2 -3 cups stock (vegetable or chicken)
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried italian seasoning
• 1 -2 bay leaf
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 -2 teaspoon honey
• 1/2-1 cup heavy cream or 1/2-1 cup light cream
• salt and pepper, to taste

Recipe

• 1 on a medium low heat, saute onions until soft and light brown.
• 2 add garlic, and continue to saute until fragrant and light brown. reduce heat if necessary to keep from burning.
• 3 add tomato paste to pan, and continue to cook on low, stirring often, until tomato paste turns dark red.
• 4 add all of the remaining ingredients except for cream and salt and pepper.
• 5 raise heat to medium high, bringing the soup to a boil.
• 6 reduce heat again to medium low, and cook until volume of the soup reduces approximately 1/3 or until thickened to an almost sauce-like consistency.
• 7 remove bay leaves. blend soup to a smooth consistency using either a hand blender or blender.
• 8 in pan, add cream in the amount needed to reach a bisque consistency.
• 9 add salt and pepper and adjust any seasoning to your preference.
• 10 note: for a flavor boost to a vegetarian version, look for canned roasted tomatoes which will add a smoky flavor. a dash of liquid smoke also does the trick if you like the flavor. i also like cajun seasoning in almost everything -- use at will.