{"id":2095,"date":"2011-06-29T11:46:29","date_gmt":"2011-06-29T15:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.e357.net\/beingernest\/?p=2095"},"modified":"2014-07-27T14:41:57","modified_gmt":"2014-07-27T18:41:57","slug":"tomato-bisque-w-bacon-and-basil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/tomato-bisque-w-bacon-and-basil\/","title":{"rendered":"Soup#23 Tomato Bisque w Bacon and Basil"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/TomatoBaconBisqueCrop.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2105\" title=\"TomatoBaconBisqueCrop\" src=\"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/TomatoBaconBisqueCrop.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/TomatoBaconBisqueCrop.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/TomatoBaconBisqueCrop-296x300.jpg 296w, https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/TomatoBaconBisqueCrop-1011x1024.jpg 1011w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a>I&#8217;ve been looking for some low carb soups to help out with another of those new year&#8217;s resolutions that we always make&#8230;then forget until it&#8217;s time to go to the beach. Since starch is the main source of soup thickener&#8217;s that often means brothy soups, which are fine&#8230;except that I&#8217;m usually looking for a soup I can eat as a meal.<\/p>\n<p>Tomatoes are fairly low in carbs, so I was browsing around for thoughts in that direction when I found this tempting recipe over on Hunt&#8217;s website. Bacon, basil, tomatoes and\u00a0 Half and Half. It&#8217;s got all my favorite food groups in one place!<\/p>\n<p>Of course, it&#8217;s probably darn good as a vegetarian dish as well, and I could alwaus double batch it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tomato Bisque w Bacon and Basil<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1\u00a0pound\u00a0smoked bacon, chopped<\/li>\n<li>1\u00a0small\u00a0onion, chopped<\/li>\n<li>3\u00a0cloves\u00a0garlic, peeled, finely chopped<\/li>\n<li>2\u00a0cans (14.5 oz each)\u00a0Hunt&#8217;s\u00ae Petite Diced Tomatoes, undrained<\/li>\n<li>1\u00a0can (14 oz each)\u00a0chicken broth<\/li>\n<li>1\u00a0can (6 oz each)\u00a0Hunt&#8217;s\u00ae Tomato Paste with Basil, Garlic and Oregano<\/li>\n<li>1\u00a0cup\u00a0heavy (whipping) cream<\/li>\n<li>1\/2\u00a0cup\u00a0coarsely chopped fresh basil, divided<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now, that list was taken directly from Hunt&#8217;s site, and for a change, I almost followed the recipe. I actually did use Hunt&#8217;s tomatoes, the only deviation being that I couldn&#8217;t find the Tomato Paste with Basil, etc., so I used their &#8220;Italian Seasoning&#8221; one&#8230;which is pretty much the same thing.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/TBBservings.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2107\" title=\"TBBservings\" src=\"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/TBBservings.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/TBBservings.jpg 863w, https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/TBBservings-300x266.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 863px) 100vw, 863px\" \/><\/a>It&#8217;s pretty appalling how much a pound of bacon cooks down to, by the way, though in this case it was 12 ounces of lean bacon, but that was plenty, really. In fact, half a pound of bacon would be fine. Of course I used a teaspoon of Better Than Bullion Low Sodium Chicken Base instead of the stock called for. I should really ask those folks to sponsor me, or at least throw some jars my way.<\/p>\n<p>Like it says in the recipe, more or less, I cooked the bacon until about crisp, reserved about a half for adding back in or\u00a0 for garnish. The reserved bits got dried on several paper towels, which left them exposed to the cook&#8230;and diminished their quantity somewhat. I added in sauteed onion and garlic, tomatoes and juice, two cups water, and the tbs chicken base previously mentioned. Simmer for twenty minutes.<\/p>\n<p>I added in the cream and simmered it very gently for ten minutes before stirring in the chopped basil, then blended until smooth-ish.<\/p>\n<p>Hunts calls for a blender, and truthfully, it would probably have  worked better than the immersion blender I used, which left the bacon  in grainy bits. KT, one of my tasters, tells me she liked that part&#8230;but  next time I think I&#8217;d run it through my mesh strainer to get the soup  perfectly smooth.<\/p>\n<p>Last I stirred in some of the remaining basil and bacon and divided it up into six eight ounce containers. There was about half a cup left over, which I took as food tax and while I played with the seasoning.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 260px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" \" title=\"Hunts BBT Bisque\" src=\"http:\/\/consumerrecipe.conagrafoods.com\/uploadedImages\/img_4327_1498.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"200\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hunts BBT Bisque - this is their picture...but but mine came out the exact same color. (photo credit: Hunts.com)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It came out pretty well, and would be a perfectly good first course for a dinner party (with or without the bacon) but next time I&#8217;d:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Strain the soup for smoothness<\/li>\n<li>Add a bit more salt for flavor<\/li>\n<li>add a half tsp of cayenne for zip<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>sources \/ links<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hunts.com\/recipes-BBT-Bisque-4327.html\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.hunts.com\/recipes-BBT-Bisque-4327.html<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been looking for some low carb soups to help out with another of those new year&#8217;s resolutions that we always make&#8230;then forget until it&#8217;s time to go to the beach. Since starch is the main source of soup thickener&#8217;s that often means brothy soups, which are fine&#8230;except that I&#8217;m usually looking for a soup [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-soup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2095"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3663,"href":"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2095\/revisions\/3663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e357.net\/beingernest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}