Roasted Tomato Bisque

Hey, everyone! Roasted Tomato Bisque here to change your grilled cheese game!

Winter is descending upon us in Anchorage with the first frost lingering over the ground well into the afternoon today. It was the perfect weather to break out this homemade tomato soup recipe.

Now, I have made this soup more than a dozen times and each time varies slightly. Usually it depends on how nice the tomatoes look at the store. That’s what’s nice about this recipe – its pretty flexible. When I went grocery shopping this weekend, the Roma tomatoes looked a little small so I purchased some extra to make up for it. Really, you can use whatever type of tomatoes you’d like for this recipe.

All the ingredients are rather easy to assemble and get popped into the oven. The bake time is rather long though so get it started soon! My fiancé just said {as I’m taking pictures of my ingredients all lined up}, “Wow. I can see dinner is going to take a lot longer from now on” {hahaha} We have a pretty sweet deal where I make all the dinners, he does the all the dishes! He hasn’t figured out that he’s totally getting robbed in this deal 😉

*Note: this recipe can easily be made vegan or vegetarian by replacing the chicken broth with vegetable broth or water and skipping the half and half 🙂

Optional: don’t add any broth if you want a thicker soup

Ingredients:

• 6-8 plum or Roma tomatoes
• 5-7 beefsteak or slicing tomatoes
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1lb carrots, chopped
• 1 large onion, cut into chunks
• 2-3 cups chicken broth*
• 2 cups half and half
• olive oil
• 3 tsp thyme
• 3 tsp oregano
• salt and pepper
• croutons (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cut tomatoes in half and remove stems. Toss tomatoes in olive oil, 2 tsp thyme, 2 tsp oregano, salt and pepper. Spread evenly on baking sheet with the garlic and roast in oven for 45 minutes.

Toss carrots and onions in olive oil and remaining thyme, oregano, salt and pepper. After 45 minutes, add carrots and onions to tomatoes. Roast all together for another 30 minutes.

Place roasted vegetables and tomatoes in large pot with chicken broth* and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and blend with immersion blender {see note}. Stir in 2 cups of half and half.

Note: This recipe can be completed with a regular blender if you do not have an immersion blender. Simply blend the soup in small batches and use a kitchen towel to hold down the lid. Hot liquids expand when blended so be careful not to overload.

Enjoy! 😀