Make tomato bisque for under $7.

I love tomato bisque, and I love this recipe because I can make 4 to 5 servings of it for under $7. Can we say THRIFTY COOKING!? I had originally ganked the recipe from AllRecipes.com, but have since modified it to meet my own tastes. Cooking is great because it’s very forgiving… if you know what you’re doing.

• 3-4 roma tomatoes, diced
• 4 cups tomato juice
• 1 red bell pepper, diced (optional)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 10 fresh basil leaves
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup heavy cream

Put the tomatoes, tomato juice, bell pepper, garlic, vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper and basil into a stock pot, cooking for at least a half hour to soften the veggies. I usually put everything in the pot, turn the heat onto medium-low, and go take a shower or clean up the apartment. It makes the time go by like that, making it seem like you’re eating so much sooner!

After cooking, you need to puree the mix. If you have an immersion blender, great! Use that. I am unfortunate and only have a blender. If you’re down on your luck like me, ladle the soup into your blender and puree. You may have to do this two times. I don’t have a big enough blender to do it all in one shot. Return the pureed soup to the stock pot and turn on low.

CAUTION: When I first made this recipe, I had the blender on high. The soup volcanoed up into the lid and burned my hand something horrible. Let’s just say I did more than cuss up a storm. Use extreme caution when blending the soup with a blender. As a sort of safety, I put a towel over the lid and use an oven mitt to hold the lid down, just in case the soup does a crazy sort of upheaval when blending.

Add the butter and stir into the soup until melted. Add the cream after the butter has melted, heating through for about a minute. Do not boil the soup after you have added the cream!

Serve with flaky, crusty, warm bread if you have it. It’s excellent for dipping. :)

Enjoy!

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Written with awesome by Nichole.
Filed away under recipes, thrifty cooking