Roasted Tomato Bisque

The garden clean out produced more ripe tomatoes, and with the cooler weather a warm tomato soup is in order.  We had grilled cheese sandwiches with the soup--what else??

First step is to cut the tomatoes in half or quarters.  Arrange on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle on salt and pepper.  I also added some slices of garlic.  

Roast in a 350 oven until nice and soft.

Here are the tomatoes out of the oven.  The aroma is amazing.

Next step, put the tomatoes and all the pan drippings into a large dutch oven.  

Simmer and add the remaining ingredients.

Here's the entire recipe from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

5 1/4 pounds ripe but firm tomatoes, cored and quartered, divided

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

4 carrots, peeled and chopped (I used some canned carrots)

2 shallots, quartered

4 garlic cloves, crushed (I roasted the garlic with my tomatoes)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 tablespoons dry sherry (I used dry white wine)

1 to 2 cups chicken broth, divided

1/4 cup heavy cream (I used half and half, but go ahead and use cream if you have it)

1 tablespoon basil, chopped

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil; set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the 3 1/2 pounds of quartered tomatoes, olive oil, light brown sugar, carrots, shallots and garlic, and toss to coat. Season the vegetables lightly with salt and pepper. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and roast until caramelized, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel off the skins and discard. Transfer the tomato flesh along with the rest of the roasted mixture to a large dutch oven and set aside.
Add 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, crushed red pepper, tomato paste, dry sherry, remaining 1 3/4 pounds of tomatoes and 1 cup chicken broth to the dutch oven and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are very tender, about 15 minutes.
Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth.
Add the heavy cream and return to simmer. Season to taste with salt, and pepper. If desired, add more chicken stock until your desired consistency. Sprinkle each bowl with basil before serving.

Enjoy Friends!

Cassoulet -- My Way

Today is cloudy, cool, and rainy!  A perfect day for some comfort food.  I had some big fat chicken legs in the fridge and some canned great northern beans, so cassoulet!  This is a much simpler method for making cassoulet. So here goes.  Oh, one other thing, I have fresh herbs growing in pots on my patio and you definitely need fresh herbs for this recipe.  Actually it's not so much a recipe as a process.  Let's get cooking!

First brown the chicken legs in a skillet.  I have recently been using coconut oil for cooking and baking.  (No, it does not taste like coconut--its just healthy clean pure oil.)

While the chicken legs are browning, chop up some onion, carrots, celery, and garlic.  I used half a large white onion, two stalks of celery, two large carrots, and two cloves of garlic.

Other stuff you will need...

Take the chicken legs out and place them on a plate.  Add the chopped onion, celery, carrots, and garlic.  Saute for a minute or so until fragrant, add salt and pepper.   Chop some fresh rosemary and thyme--about a tablespoon of each.  Add to the vegetables.

Next pour in a can of chicken broth and a can of tomatoes.  I used San Marzano tomatoes that I canned last summer.

Place the chicken legs on top of everything, cover, and place in a 350 degree oven.  Bake for about one hour.

Drain and rinse two cans of great northern beans, or navy beans, or canellini beans, pour over the chicken.  Add more chicken stock at this point if it looks too dry.  Sorry, this photo is sideways!!

Back into the oven for another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, 3 tablespoons of butter, and some chopped flat leaf parsley -- about 3 tablespoons.  Mix the parsley into one cup of bread crumbs.

Remove the dutch oven and uncover.  Sprinkle the bread crumb parsley mixture over the chicken/bean/veg mixture.  Drizzle the melted butter over the crumbs.  Place back in the oven uncovered for another 10 minutes or until the bread crumbs are golden brown.

Serve each person a chicken leg (or two) with some of the crispy crumbs, beans, and vegetables.  A slice of buttered bread goes well with this dish.

Enjoy friends!

Chicken Pot Pie

So, chicken pot pie, the ultimate comfort food!  

There's really no recipe, so just follow along with the photos.

Chop carrots, onion, celery, and mushrooms, add some frozen peas.

Season with salt and pepper.  

Saute in some olive oil and butter until the vegetables are tender.

Add a can of cream of chicken soup and mix well.

Alternately, you can sprinkle in some flour, stir, and add chicken stock, 

cook until it thickens.

Chop up some cooked chicken, this is a good time to use a rotisserie chicken from the deli.

Add the chicken to the vegetable mixture.

Since I like easy clean up, I lined the casserole dish with some non-stick foil.

This is a sheet of puff pastry, thaw it out, unroll, and place it on top of the vegetables in the casserole.

Bake at 350 degrees F. until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.

Serve and dig in.

Enjoy friends!