Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Creamy Tomato Basil Bisque Soup and other Fall Ramblings

Since Fall has arrived, it's time to make my favorite soup of all! There is something I have to admit. I can't make up my mind if I like tomatoes or not! I like tomatoes in soup, marinara sauce, cucumber and tomato salad but I don't really like them whole or on hamburgers or sandwiches. I'm a Gemini! What do you expect!

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, diced
1 celery rib, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons unbleached flour
4 cups chicken broth
2 cans (14.5 oz size) tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon sugar
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons basil
1/4 cup cream
salt and pepper to taste
croutons and fresh parmesan for topping
Directions:
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, celery and garlic. Cook for 4 minutes. Stir in flour over low heat. Add broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, bay leaves and basil; bring to a boil. Turn heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove bay leaves.
In a blender, carefully puree half the soup. Return to saucepan, stir in cream and season with
salt and pepper. Top with croutons or freshly grated parmesan cheese.
To add to this Fall weather, here are some cozy pictures and a sweet quote for you to enjoy.
Some comforting tea...
A well decorated autumn porch...

Some autumn fruit....

Warm baked pumpkin bread....

And a beautiful simple quote by Emily Bronte

Every leaf speaks bliss to me,
Fluttering from the autumn tree.

TIS AUTUMN!

9 comments:

Zaroga said...

The food looks delicious. I do love Autumn and you do it up nice :-)

Hisako Hill said...

Beautiful posting!! I kind of miss the feeling of Autumn. We have the palm trees all year around here in OC;( I miss the leaves changing from green to yellow red and all the autumn shades.........

Thanks again for your beautiful posting.

Sako

Anonymous said...

(I tried to post twice earlier, but Blogger was having some growing pains...)

ARRRGH...I typed a long msg that I think Blogger lost. Poop!

OK, to recap:

Thank you for a lovely post with soothing Autumn things- soup recipe and photos!

Blogger must be messing with my "following" gadget too because I never saw a notification of your previous post. Grr.

Michelle said...

Hi Sako (mom),

I enjoy knowing that you come look at my blog everyday! The colors in the trees are changing right outside my windows...I love the colors so much.

I love you!

Michelle

Michelle said...

Hey Teresa,

I thought there was something up with Blogger. My formatting kept getting all weird and I just gave up. I'm glad you liked my posting. I just love the colors of Fall. :)

Cynthia's Cottage Design said...

Oh wow, it all looks so yummy!! I have to make that soup, thats one of my favs! thanks for sharing!!

~ Cynthia ~

Janet said...

I love these pictures! Makes me want to go to Oregon!

The soup recipe looks very yummy:)

Janet

Michelle said...

Thanks sis! You should come visit me soon! :)

Love,

Michelle

Tea Time With Melody said...

I had Tomato Basil Bisque soup at a wedding once and it was fantastic.. I hate tomato soup too. Took me a long time to like tomatoes by themselves. Aquired taste I think. I am going to try your recipe! Thanks for sharing.