A New Twist on Bisque

Tonight we decided to make an inexpensive meal that would give us some leftovers to take to work for lunch. Certain things work better as leftovers than others. In my opinion, pasta gets slimy and starchy, fish tends to get rubbery, and ground beef dries out. One option that stays relatively stable is soup, but be careful. Some soups keep better than others. Certain soups will solidify after cooling and no amount of further additions prior to reheating will save them. Also, certain vegetables like leeks, kale, or anything meant to be crispy on the first go will become anything but once the soup is reheated.

With these precautions in mind, good soups to make with leftovers in mind are vegetable based with some, but not tons, of dairy. For example, tonight I made a nice tomato bisque with a few chunks of gouda, some smoked paprika, a splash of half and half, and a spoonful of lowfat cream cheese. One thing that bothers me about most bisques is that the heavy cream used in the dairy addition is rich, but not terribly interesting in terms of how that creaminess tastes. Rich food should be worth the calories and the taste, not just the former! Making a soup with a few different kinds of dairy, in addition to a nice sharp flavor like tomatoes, really makes for a nice meal and one that is lighter than a heavy cream bisque.

After reading that roster of dairy, this may seem like anything but a high cost meal. However, the only thing we had to buy to make the soup were tomatoes, both fresh and canned, and the half and half, which we plan on using in another recipe. We had everything else, which brings me to a good tip on cooking, which is that you should use what you have. We bought a big wedge of gouda a while ago, and we had a chunk of it left. We like bagels and cream cheese for breakfast, so we always have some cream cheese in the fridge. Gouda, cream cheese, and half and half are all dairy, but each one has a certain taste that is nice on its own, but is also easy and fun to combine.

As for the rest of the recipe, it’s easy:

To begin, toss a big spoonful of minced garlic and a medium chopped onion into some hot olive oil. If you have a thin bottom pot, watch this mixture and stir it a lot until the onions are translucent. I then chopped four fresh tomatoes into big slices, about the size of a lemon wedge in a glass of iced tea, and tossed those in. To this I added about a half tablespoon of smoked paprika and some dried basil. While that heated up, I pureed three 14 oz cans of whole tomatoes in a blender and added this to the pot, along with two bouillon cubes (flavor on these varies a lot by brand, so find one you like). To this I added 3 cups of water

Then I let that mixture boil for about an hour, uncovered. I stirred it every now and then, but since there is no dairy in it yet, the soup can pretty much bubble on its own.

Then, add the chunks of gouda, the cream cheese, and the half and half. Lower your heat and wait for it to bubble just a bit, then stir it more frequently, maybe once every five minutes. Once dairy is in the soup there is a far greater chance the soup will scorch to the bottom of the pan, which you want to avoid!

I made some cornbread to go with this soup, but if making the soup is enough of a chore, just buy a nice crusty white or wheat bread. This simple tomato bisque is healthier than its relative which consists of nothing but pureed tomatoes and heavy cream. You could also add some other veggies to it if you wish; soup is nice to experiment with, because unless you do something really extreme, it will still taste pretty good. Just don’t go overboard on spicing it; you can always add more, but subtracting or downplaying a spice is not easy. And you want to preserve the taste of the fresh tomatoes you added.

It was so good that we accidentally dove right in before taking a photo!

Have fun cooking!