Roasted Tomato and Onion Pesto Bisque

 
     This soup recipe can be made two ways, either using entirely fresh ingredients or the weeknight cheater way, which uses the help of canned roasted tomatoes.  I originally started making this recipe for a few weeks last summer when we were getting 7-12 pounds of tomatoes per week from our CSA (community supported agriculture), http://www.enright-csa.org.  I needed a way to use the mountain of tomatoes piling up in my kitchen before they all went bad, and I wanted something more substantial than salsa.  The result was a chunky, flavor-packed tomato bisque that we usually pair with my partner's insanely delicious garlic bacon grilled cheese sandwiches.  Go do a triathlon before eating this meal.  It's a hearty one!

Ingredients

For roasting:
2-3 tbsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
4 lbs. Roma tomatoes, halved
2 onions, roughly chopped.
Kosher salt

For pesto:
3-4 garlic cloves
Fresh basil (enough for 2 cups when finely chopped)
1/3 cup natural almond butter, without any salt or sugar added
Kosher salt

For bisque:
1/2 6 oz. can of tomato paste (I use Muir Glen Organic Tomato Paste)
2-3 cups organic free range chicken broth
1/2-1 cup organic greek yogurt, which can be substituted with cream or half & half, if desired
Freshly shredded Parmigiano Reggiano as garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Halve all of the Roma tomatoes and place them skin-side down on the baking sheet.  Place chopped onion around the tomatoes where there's room.  Drizzle olive oil over everything and sprinkle with salt to taste, tossing by hand to coat.  Roast for 30 minutes or so, until skin on tomatoes is wrinkled and tomatoes are bubbling.  If you have left-over onions and tomatoes that didn't fit into the baking sheet, just sauté them in your soup pot with a little bit of olive oil and kosher salt.

In a food processor, process the garlic cloves and add the fresh basil leaves until you have about 2 cups chopped basil.  Add about 1/4-1/3 cup of EVOO and a pinch of salt to make a paste.  The paste doesn't need to be very runny at this point, just wet enough to not fly all over the place in the food processor.  At this point, I pulse in about 1/3 cup almond butter to the basil mixture, in lieu of the traditional pine nuts, because almond butter is something I usually have around the house more often than pine nuts.  If pine nuts are more accessible for you, then try substituting them after lightly toasting them in a pan over the stove.

When the tomatoes and onions are done roasting*, transfer them and roasting juices to your soup pot.

Add the pesto and tomato paste, stirring to combine.

Heat this mixture, stirring occasionally, bringing it to a simmer to incorporate the flavors a bit before adding the chicken broth, maybe for about 5 minutes or so, depending on how much liquid you have from the tomatoes.  Do not let the mixture stick to the bottom of your pot.  If that starts happening, it is time to add some broth.  Add the 2 cups of broth or more, based on preferred consistency, and simmer on very low for about 20 minutes.  Blend with an immersion blender**.

Cool slightly and then mix in the greek yogurt to create a creamy bisque.  This last step it completely optional.  I sometimes skip the yogurt if I am in the mood for a really tomato-y bisque.  Be aware that adding the creamy component will dull down the flavor slightly.


*If you don't have enough fresh tomatoes on hand or don't have time for roasting, use two 28 oz. cans of fire roasted, diced or crushed tomatoes as a substitute and add them after starting by sautéing the onions in the pot with EVOO and kosher salt.  I prefer Muir Glen Fire Roasted tomatoes, because the flavor is very similar to home-roasted tomatoes.

**An immersion wand blender works best for pureeing soup safely. If you do not have an immersion blender, carefully transfer the soup in small batches to a regular blender, taking care to open the top vent, cover with a towel, and hold the lid down firmly while blending, using the lowest speed possible, so that the heat and pressure do not make the blender top fly off and scalding soup fly all over!  The blender should never be more than half full when blending soup.  If you are using an immersion blender, take care to keep the blade portion below the surface while blending so that hot soup does not fly out at you and your kitchen.