Smoky tomato bisque

Tomato soup is everyone's favourite soup; it reigns supreme as a comfort food. Everyone grew up with tomato soup, made by mom or grandma, soft, warm and delicious. It is also one of the most commonly ordered soups at restaurants and is therefore found almost everywhere.

This tomato soup is in a class by itself. Full of the flavours of fresh tomatoes that have been cooked down and concentrated, spiked with smoked and spicy paprika and nuanced with herbs, this soup is a treat. It is bold, beautifully scented and every person who has had this soup wants the recipe. This is one of the few soups I make a few times a year.

This is a wonderful cookbook that specialises in soups for all seasons. Deborah Madison is one of the first chefs to start the farm-to-table movement in the Bay Area, and her recipes reflect her expertise with vegetables and fresh produce. I have a number of her wonderful cookbooks, each one a masterpiece. This book made me fall in love with soups and taught me how to make a great one.

For more wonderful soup recipes from this cookbook, click here. 

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon sweet paprika, preferably Spanish

1 teaspoon smoked hot paprika, preferably Spanish

1 slice of bread, torn into pieces

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried basil

Salt, to taste

1 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 lb tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 cup chicken stock

1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste

1 tablespoon cream per bowl

Parsley, minced, for garnish

Heat the oil in a stockpot over low heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté till the onions are soft; they should not have any colour. Add the paprika, bread, thyme, basil, salt and pepper and toss quickly. Be careful, the paprika burns very quickly.

Add the tomatoes and toss the mix well. Turn the heat up to medium-high, add the stock and sugar, and stew the tomatoes with the lid closed for 40 minutes, checking the pot every 5 minutes or so to ensure the mixture does not dry out. If it is dry, add some more stock as needed. Careful, this is a thick tomato soup, so you do not want it too runny. The tomatoes will break down and form a sauce, similar to pasta sauce.

When the tomatoes are ready, remove the mixture from the heat and let it cool. Purée in a blender or with a hand blender until very smooth. If you would like, I usually pass the mix through a fine-mesh strainer, working the pulp with a spatula to achieve a smooth soup. Taste and adjust paprika and salt. You should have a bold soup that is smoky, tangy, and full of flavour. If the soup is too sour, adjust the flavour with another teaspoon or two of sugar to smooth out the flavours.

To serve, heat the soup and ladle into bowls. Add the tablespoon of cream and decorate if desired. Serve topped with parsley.