Fresh Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Bisque with Crab

We recently returned from a Southern Foodie Road Trip. Starting in Austin, Texas and traveling through Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida, driving along the Gulf Coast the entire time. Of course, everywhere we went, the restaurants offered fresh Gulf Shrimp, Oysters and Crab. The seafood was so fresh. It was a little chilly, and rainy and I was craving tomato soup. I loved that many of the restaurants along the Gulfcoast offered tomato soup served with a little bluecrab stirred in. We had a lovely tomato soup in the small Florida town of Seaside at an outdoor shack call Shrimp Shack. It was served in a small round of bread. Serving soup in bread brings new meaning to the term “ comfort food.” If you wish, just buy small rounds of bread in the supermarket, hollow out the middle and pour the soup directly into it. In this recipe, I used freshly cut tomatoes as in Florida, the weather is gorgeous and I am picking hundreds of fresh tomatoes a day. Make a lot, as you can use the leftover soup over pasta with a little wine and saffron for an amazing pasta sauce. Or you can use the soup, alternating with wine to make a killer risotto. Let night, I used the leftover soup to make an Israeli couscous and served it with a seared swordfish on top. Here, I served the soup with grilled cheese made with my favorite white cheddar cheese with truffles from Trader Joes. The flavors compliment each other perfectly.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 medium white onion, chopped

1 Tbs olive oil

12 cups roughly chopped tomatoes (I used what I had in the garden, so it was a combination of large tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. I de-seeded the large tomatoes and used the cherry tomatoes whole)

10 cloves garlic, whole

2-3 Bay leaves

4 roasted red peppers, freshly roasted and peeled, or peppers from a jar

1 Tbs dried oregano

1 Tbs dried basil

2-3 Tbs cane sugar (to your personal taste)

1 cup water

1 ½- 2 tbs salt, to taste

½ tsp freshly ground pepper

6 tbs butter

1/2 cup cream (optional)

For the crab topping:

16 oz blue crab meat (I am partial to Blue Star from Costco)

2 Tbs chopped fresh chives

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

½ tsp salt, I prefer the Avogel Spicy Organic Sea salt with herbs

Grind of pepper for crab

Directions:

1. Saute the chopped onion in the olive oil for just a minute or two until translucent. Add the chopped tomatoes to the pot. Add the whole garlic, the roasted peppers, the oregano, basil, water, salt and pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes.

2. Cool 10 minutes. Blend with a hand blender until smooth.

3. Add the butter.

4. Prepare the crab topping. Mix the drained crab with the chopped chives, the lemon juice and adjust with the salt and pepper. You can use any salt, but, I am very partial to the organic salt with herbs by Avogel.

5. Stir a little crab into the bisque, top the bisque with additional crab