Bacon Tomato Bisque

This bisque can be made with general every day ingredients that I know I almost always have on hand. It was a first run, but I doubt I'll change anything for next time. It was delicious!

Bacon Tomato Bisque

Ingredients:

4-6 slices of bacon, chopped up
1/4 cup butter (half stick)
1/4 cup flour
pinch of nutmeg
1 can vegetable broth (or chicken)
4 oz cream cheese, SUPER soft
1 can Italian style diced tomatoes, not drained
1 can regular diced tomatoes, not drained
1/4 cup milk (i used 2%, but it shouldn't matter)

In a saucepan (whatever you're going to make the soup in), brown the bacon until crispy. Remove to a paper towel to drain. Discard drippings. In the same pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted, slowly whisk in the flour and nutmeg (I always use whole nutmeg and just grate what I need...it tastes so much better) until smooth. Slowly whisk in the broth. Bring to a small simmer and whisk occasionally until nice and thick. Reduce heat and add cream cheese, whisking until smooth. (I added my cream cheese after the tomatoes and had trouble getting all the lumps out, so I think adding it before the tomatoes is going to be your best bet.) After the mixture is smooth, add tomatoes and juice. Heat through. Add milk and stir. Do not bring to a boil after adding the milk. Garnish with the crispy bacon. You could also use green onions to garnish as well.

Pasta con Salsa di Pomodoro Panna

Translated: Pasta with tomato cream sauce.

Yum.

This is a new recipe I tried out tonight. We had some leftover grilled chicken from last night and I didn't just want to reheat it. Blech. So I decided to slice it up and put it over pasta.

The components are simple. The recipe takes 20 minutes, tops. It's a fast, delicious, and impressive. Here's what I did (approximately, since I typically don't measure much when I'm cooking).

Ingredients:

1 Onion, diced (I used a Vidalia, but a regular white or yellow onion would be fine)
1 Clove garlic, pressed or minced
a couple tablespoons of olive oil
1 can Italian style diced tomatoes, NOT drained
2 teaspoons basil
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
heavy pinch of black pepper
1/2 cup cream
1 tablespoon butter

Directions:
Sautee onion and garlic in olive oil over medium low heat, being careful not to burn it.
Once the onions are soft, add spices and diced tomatoes. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Boil 5-10 minutes until a lot of the juice has evaporated. This is going to make for a nice robust tomato-ey taste.

Remove from heat, add butter and cream. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Pour over pasta and you're golden. I added grated parm and a bit of sliced grilled chicken. I used penne pasta because of its ability to hold the sauce so well.

Mangiare Bene!