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It’s the dead of winter, but I am craving tomatoes. I have a full-on tomato jones going.
Best way to fix that is with this tomato soup, made more fanciful by calling it bisque. A bisque (say it bisk) is a rich, smooth, creamy soup often made with shellfish, and thickened with said shellfish including the pulverized shells. Well, this one is rich, creamy, and has a roux to thicken it, but is sans shellfish.
That’s OK. It’s plenty flavorful without them. (Although now that we’re thinking about it, it wouldn’t kill you to strew a few shrimp on top if you want to.)
This is far more than simply the sum of its parts. It’s truly shockingly delicious, in all the right ways.
Recipe: Sweet Tomato Basil Bisque
Summary: Rich, packed with tomato goodness and just the right touch of creamy sweetness, this is tomato soup of the Gods.
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 1 large onion (about 12 ounces), peeled and finely chopped
- 5 tablespoons flour
- 2 (28-ounce) cans peeled crushed tomatoes
- 3 teaspoons dried dill weed
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 6 cups low-fat, low-salt chicken stock
- 5 tablespoons honey
- 3/4 cup half-and-half or cream (or a mixture of both)
- 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
- Pinch kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- Garnish: finely chopped fresh basil
Instructions
- In large soup pot, melt butter. Over medium heat, sauté onions in butter, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Onions should be translucent but not brown. Add flour and stir; it will look a bit pasty. Cook and stir for a minute or two until the paste (called a roux), begins to brown slightly.
- Add tomatoes, dill, oregano and stock. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Add honey, cream and parsley and return to a boil. Taste, add salt and pepper to season, and serve.
- Garnish with a shower of chopped basil if you like.
- Makes about 13 cups. Serves 6-8, depending on appetites.
- Store in refrigerator. Leftovers are even better the next day. And the following day.
Quick notes
Source: Thanks to high school friend Andy Alexis for the inspiration for this recipe.
Variation
You can easily make this vegetarian by substituting vegetable broth for the chicken broth.
Preparation time: 5 minute(s)
Cooking time: 30 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 6-8, depending on appetites
Culinary tradition: USA (General)
My rating
Welcome to my kitchen, where the oven is always on, and the fridge is packed with delectables! 
At dinner at a nice restaurant the other night, my friend asked me what a bisque was, and although I’m familiar with the soup, I found I couldn’t define it. So I appreciate that you included an explanation, Dorothy. But more importantly, I never would have thought of MAKING a tomato bisque — would normally just buy it in a store — so now I feel that much more empowered. You’re going to create foodies out of all of us yet!
Todd,
Thanks! You MUST make this tomato soup for your friends. They will put you in their wills. I promise.
I’ve made this twice, and as I sit here, drinking my soup from my mug I smile. So tasty. 12oz of onion was actually 3 small (from a bag of onions) once weighed out. Two weeks ago I think I only used one, maybe 1.5. This time I used 2.5, but will go with 2 next time. Pureed it with an inversion blender as I used canned whole tomatoes. Thank you (x2… so far!) for this post.
Carolyn,
So glad you liked it, and enough to make it twice! Yeah, onions come in all sizes, and I used a very large one, so I actually weighed it to give readers a better gauge. So use as many onions as you need to make about 12 ounces (or use as many as you like, to your taste).
[...] Sweet Tomato Basil Bisque [...]
I have made this tomato bisque today. It seemed strange to put honey in it (I always use ginger syrup to sweeten soup) But when the soup was salted right, it tasted excellent! Thank you.
Caroline,
So glad you enjoyed! Hmmmm…ginger syrup sounds fabulous!
This looks so comforting, flavorful and delicious!
it looks so rich and delicious!
Can’t wait to make this soup. It sounds just like what we need for our very snowy winter but will remind us that summer IS coming. Eventually.
Thank you. I’m making this as soon as I can get out to the store to buy stuff for it.
I made a similar “bisk” recently but I did use shellfish in the form of mussels. I wish I had thought to call it a a bisque! GREG
Dorothy, tomato bisque has to be one of my favorite soups (along French onion soup), even though I grew up eating more brothy tomato soups. My mom used to poach eggs in it and I transferred that tradition to my American home, much to my family’s pleasure:)
This recipe sounds easy, indeed, and I think I have all the necessary ingredients (I just made some chicken stock today).
BTW, I can’t believe you got up at dawn to make the soup:)