Saturday, September 27, 2008

Comfort food recipe and request

I love the transition to fall, the first time you need a sweatshirt or sweater and you have to dig around in the closet to even find it. I love that summer packs up its aggresive self and fall sends us all inside to cook and stay warm. It always gets me back into the kitchen and I find a new focus and dedication to making things. It also makes me really nostalgic. Right now, I'm all about comfort foods. I've been making my grandma's banana bread and my mom's bean burritos with extra cheese. Last night, however, the only thing that would do was grilled cheese and tomato soup. I'm not a fan of canned soup and in fact, we have the same two 'emergency meal' cans in our pantry from years ago. Something is lost in canned soup. So, I whipped up my mother's amazing Tomato Bisque to satisfy my craving.
It is easy and so amazing. And, I figured that quite a few other people might have some extra tomatoes right now. So, here is the recipe. While I usually play around and only loosely follow a recipe, this one is truly perfect as is. It does have some, lets just say, non-diet friendly ingredients, if this makes you squeamish just close your eyes as you add these ingredients.


Tomato Bisque
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup butter
3/4 teaspoon dill seed
1 teaspoon dill weed
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 cup flour
3 cups broth (chicken or veg.)
4 cups tomatoes (fresh is best but canned is really tasty too)
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 cup or cream (you can substitute one half of this for half and half)
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
1/4 cup honey


Saute the onions, dills and oregano in the butter. Once soft, add the flour and stir until dry (turns into a rou). Stir in the broth, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then turn down heat to a simmer for about 20 minutes until a good bit of the water reduces. Turn off the heat and add the parsley, honey, and cream. Stir together and serve!
I'd love to know others comfort foods. Got a good shepard's pie or cheesy casserole? Leave a comment or link to your blog and let me know. Also, if you try the soup, let me know what you think.
Addition: I should have mentioned that I usually puree my tomatoes in the cuisinart because I like the soup fully pureed. But, chunk people might prefer to just chop them.

4 comments:

Beth said...

I added a cheesy dish. I asked DH, "what's your favorite comfort food?" He stared blankly at me (it was 6:30a afterall) and responded, "something cheesy...definately something with cheese, and maybe pasta." You can check out Cheesy Herb Risotto at www.eatsleepkids.blogspot.com. Thanks for the soup recipe too! I'll give it a whirl this week.

J said...

Hi it's always nice to have people caring to wet our appetite... keep it up. I you like to travel, you may visit my blog on stacchus.blogspot.com

Leslie Richman said...

Thanks for visiting my blog :)
This is definitely one of our favorite foods- vegan and comfort all in one!
http://www.recipezaar.com/180878

Julie said...

I posted a yummy split pea soup recipe... I made another soup this weekend that was divine, and may post it later. And I can't wait to make that tomato bisque!