Disclaimer: This recipe is best if you have a really good blender or, better yet, an immersion blender. I received mine for Christmas last year from my parents and LOVE it! It blends nearly every soft matter into a perfect liquid. The best part though is that you don't really need to waste time chopping items into bits but instead cut all items into cubes, cook till soft and blend! Save a lot of time.
This Tomato Bisque recipe was, of course, found on my favorite blog-- SkinnyTaste.Com and on again it was a hit! Give it a try for yourself... it's a good basic recipe with a lot of potential to build on.
Tomato Bisque:
- 1 Tbsp butter (low fat)
- 1 medium onion
- 1 cup carrots (I used baby carrots so I didn't have to chop anything)
- 3 cloves of garlic (never have enough in my opinoin!)
- 30 oz. fresh plum tomatoes, peeled (I wasn't about to mess with peeling the crummy tomato's from the grocery store so I bought a high quality brand of of whole peeled tomatoes (28 oz) -- perfectly fine result)
- 32 oz. fat free chicken broth (1 whole carton if you shop at TJ's-- beautiful!)
- 10 basil leaves (a "bunch" was on sale so I just broke off enough "bunches" till I had about 10 leaves and tossed them in. Made it really easy to remove later)
- 2 bay leaves (not sure this made a huge difference but they were cheap so I didn't mind adding them)
- 2 Tbsp fat free sour cream
Here was my method-- the link above will give you the original recipe if you want the true method.
Melt butter in pan. Meanwhile cube onion and slice up garlic cloves a bit so t hey cooks faster. Add the mini carrots, onion and garlic to the hot pan and melted butter. Stir occasionally for about 8-10 minutes or at least the onion pieces are translucent.
Add the whole can of tomatoes WITH juice and broth to the mixture. Add pepper and a little salt (you'll want to taste and season this again at the end). Stir well. Toss in basil and bay leaves. Reduce heat to low, cover and let simmer for 30 minutes.
Discard herbs, add sour cream and blend-- be careful if using a standing blender because hot contents will cause the top to pop! If you're using the immersion blender.. let the magic begin! ;)
Serving size: 2 cups!
Servings in recipe: 5
WW points: 1... yes, 1!! -- if you use regular butter and full fat sour cream the point range is still just 2 points! Don't forget the total goes up if you add Parmesan though. Fat free feta (2 Tbsp is 0 points and a good alternative)
