Nothing warms your insides on a chilling fall evening like a warm tomato bisque (only to be pronounced ta-ma-toe, like a Brit, it just sounds better).

Bisque, Chowder, Soup, Stew, Chili, etc.

So my wife and I had a discussion about how different liquid based (not sure what to call them) are classified.  I’m a firm believer in loose classifications of all things, in that a tomato is a vegetable I don’t care what the Botanists say (technically so is pumpkin pie right.).  Really I can’t stand hard and fast rules that dictate so directly what something is called, but here are some quick categorical points for separating these kinds of dishes into like groups.

• Soups
  • Clear
    • Consommé
    • Broths
  • Thick
    • Puree
    • Velouté
      • Thickened with a blond roux
    • Cream
      • Thickened with bechamel
    • Chowder
      • Shellfish based
    • Bisque
      • Thickened with cream
  • Cold Soups
• Stews
  • Cooked by “stewing” just enough liquid to cover food, examples (jambalaya, beef stew, curries, etc)

I’m really not sure if my recipe constitutes a bisque, but I can’t think of a better name for it.

Tomatoes

We planted six tomato plants this year, fortunately, I didn’t have Peter Rabbit in a tree next door to rob my garden, but we did have to keep the chickens out.

Six tomatoes may sound like a lot, but we use tomatoes quite a bit and only get them for a short time so I like to have a lot.  The first year Lexie and I were married I planted a huge garden.  We had something like 20 tomato plants, we couldn’t give them away quick enough so now I’m limited to six.

One of my very favorite tomatoes is a little cherry tomato called a Sun Sugar.  They are super sweet, in fact, I love to just pick them and eat them, so they rarely make it inside.

The night before our first frost of the season I went and picked all of our tomatoes off the bushes.  The green ones got placed in buckets with an apple every few layers and covered.  The apples produce ethylene gas, which helps green tomatoes ripen.

The ripe tomatoes I made into a great big belly warming pot of tomato bisque.

Bisque

The best thing about this recipe is how stinking simple it really is.

Start with tomatoes.

Put about 4 lbs of tomatoes in a pot (I used more as I was cooking for storing).

Add one small sweet whole onion.

I literally pulled these out cleaned them and threw them in whole.

Add 2 carrots and a few celery stalks (this is one of those feelings recipes, you add what you feel like).

Then throw in a few sprigs of thyme, rosemary, and basil.

Add a can of chicken broth and an equal amount of water.

Top it off with a few cloves of garlic, salt, and pepper.

Boil until everything is soft, carrots are the big one to soften here.

Then blend in your blender in batches.

Pour the blended soup through a fine mesh colander to get the extra solids out.  (Or if you like a rustic feel just leave them it.)

Not pretty I know but it does make good chicken feed.

Your soup should look something like this by now.

Return it to the stove and add a cup of cream.

Let it simmer for a bit then serve.  I like to add a dollop of ricotta cheese in the center.

This soup also would be a good one to freeze to reheat on a cold January evening, you know to prevent scurvy.