Roasted Tomato Pesto Bisque

This easy recipe for roasted tomato pesto bisque is a richly flavorful comfort food perfect for fall and winter lunches!

There’s something about a warm, cozy bowl of tomato soup on a chilly fall day that can make you feel like everything is going to be okay.

At least for that moment in time when it is just you and your soup and a spoon.

These days I am getting a little more company than I am used to, now that sweet Winnie has joined the multigenerational house and is still figuring out the rules.

The rules at this point are more like guidelines as far as Winnie is concerned, but next week we are starting her off with a very wonderful trainer. Stay tuned to the Winnie Channel for more on that!

In the meantime, let’s talk soup! Starting off with tomatoes.

When the local tomato crop shuts down for the season (sob!) there are two tomato approaches that I turn to that get me through to the next local tomato season.

The first is cherry tomatoes. For mysterious reasons, unlike their larger cousins in the supermarket, cherry tomatoes hang on to their flavor all year round.

And the second is plum tomatoes. Off-season plum tomatoes are pretty tasteless raw, but if you roast them up, MAGIC HAPPENS.

They recapture their deep tomato taste, which in this case is exactly what I need them to do to make this richly flavored tomato bisque.

And speaking of bisque, bisque traditionally means a pureed creamy seafood soup, but I’ve seen other recipes stretch it to just mean the pureed creamy part, which is what I have going on in this one.

There’s a little half and half and a whole lot of pureeing in the blender, so bisque it is!

Here’s how you make roasted tomato pesto bisque!

Preheat your oven to 425 and line a rimmed baking sheet with nonstick foil, parchment or a silicone mat – a Silpat is great for this.

Toss 6 quartered plum tomatoes and 2 cloves of minced garlic with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place on the prepared pan in a single layer and roast for 30 minutes.

Transfer the tomatoes and garlic to a blender, add ½ cup of half and half and a cup of chicken broth half and half and ¼ cup of pesto and puree.

(Pro tip: if you don’t have any pesto in your freezer from this summer the way I know my mama does, you can find it near the tomato sauces in your supermarket.)

Pour the soup into a pot and heat over medium until everything is heated through.  Ladle into warmed bowls and serve, ideally with oyster crackers on top.

And now a word about oyster crackers from the Southern husband. HE LOVES THEM. He likes that they are light little bites of salty crunchiness, and we are never without them.

After taste-testing pretty much every oyster cracker brand on the planet, he has settled on Westminster oyster crackers as the best of the best. This has been a Public Service Announcement from the Oyster Cracker King of North Carolina (self-appointed!).

And with all that, here’s the recipe!

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*The fruit and veggies link above  is an affiliate link to the wonderful Farmbox Direct site, which means I earn a commission if you buy your Farmbox Direct box through this link.  There’s no additional cost to you and as always, I am grateful for the support!*