Another Great Recipe from Vicky Akins ….

One of the best things about cold weather, is that it fosters our addiction to comfort food.  There’s nothing quite like retreating from the chilly weather, peeling off your frozen gloves, stomping the snow off your boots & being greeted by the delicious smell of homemade soup.  If you don’t live in an area that gets cold, I think you’re missing out.

I don’t know too many people who don’t have fond memories of childhood meals consisting of grilled cheese & tomato soup or something similar. The two just seem to be the ideal combination; like mashed potatoes and gravy or Sonny & Cher (okay, maybe NOT the best example).  But as we get older, it sometimes takes more than the canned variety to stir those old feelings.   Luckily there are great chefs who are always changing things up and trying something new. I try to take advantage of this whenever possible. (Translation: I love going out to dinner). One of my favorite restaurants offers a ‘Fire roasted tomato bisque’.  My daughter always encouraged me to try it, but I resisted, mostly because I had to look up exactly what I would be eating.  As it turns out, it originated in France as a creamy, highly seasoned soup, its base being the strained broth of crustaceans (shrimp, crab, lobster, etc).  Over time, soups made with roasted or pureed vegetables were also referred to as a bisque.  Who knew, right?So the next time we had lunch there, I gave it a try. Presented to you in an simple bowl, this beautiful soup comes with a thin swirl of sour cream pointing to the lightest puff pastry, delicately placed in the middle.  It was gorgeous.  I didn’t know whether to take a picture or eat it.  I did both. At first taste, it was instant addiction. I was hooked.  Really.  I would sneak away from my family in the afternoon and get a take-out order. Now, the problem with this (other than the fact that I was sneaking off to buy soup) is that my husband is a bit cheap (he calls it “frugal”).  I knew at $5.00/pint, I wasn’t going to be able to do it very often, so I attempted to duplicate this at home.I scoured the Internet, thumbed through cookbooks and tried various recipes for roasted tomato bisque.  None of them hit the mark. Finally, I took a base recipe, threw in my own ingredients, tinkered with it a bit and the results made me happy and my husband even happier.  The money I’d spent at the restaurant for a pint, made over 2 quarts at home. Maybe I didn’t have the fancy puff pastry on top, but it’s heaven, just the same.  It’s inexpensive, it’s simple and can be prepared in under an hour.

So in the end, I think the moral of the story is that when it comes to comfort food, sometimes you can go home again.  Enjoy!