What to do With Your St. Patty's Day Leftovers??

Hi everyone!  How are you all?  We are good here.  Freezing, but good.  It is super windy.  Like so windy that it keeps you up all night.  I am pretty sure that if I hadn’t held Addy down today at the bus stop, she would have flown away.  Lucky for me, I am pretty sturdy….so I wasn’t going anywhere. 

Are you getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day?  I talked about this last year, but St. Patrick’s Day sure has changed for me.  In my college days, St. Patrick’s Day was huge!  It was pretty much a two day affair, if you could make it that long.  I never could.  Now, St. Patrick’s Day is all about setting leprechaun traps and green milk.

At our house, the “mischievous leprechaun” visits every night for a full week before St. Patrick’s Day.  He does things like dying the milk green, peeing green into the toilet, stealing shoes, etc.  The girls love it.  I, on the other hand, have been rethinking the whole “week before” thing.  I think maybe next year the leprechaun might just visit for a few days.  This is a lot of work!

So back to the food…..do you end up with a ton of leftover corned beef?  We always do.  As you know, I made one last week for the four of us.  I had bought a 4 pound chunk of corned beef.  Clearly, we weren’t all going to eat a pounds worth, so we have a whole lotta beef left over.  I wanted to come up with something creative to do with the leftovers.  Last year, I made an “Irish Mac and Cheese”.  This year, I wanted to use the leftover potatoes and cabbage as well.  So I made an “Irish Pizza”.

This pizza isn’t your typical pizza.  It doesn’t have a red sauce.  Instead of sauce, I used mashed potatoes.  You might have leftover boiled potatoes, and that will work too.  I topped the mashed potatoes with corned beef, cabbage, leeks and a mix of Irish cheddar and mozzarella.  After I cooked the pizza, I swirled on some thousand island salad dressing.  That might sound weird, but the whole thing kind of reminded me of a Rueben sandwich, so it worked.  Let me show you how I made it.

I used a packaged pizza crust.  You can use that kind, the kind in a tube, or you could make your own if you are super ambitious.  I also used everything I said above.  I had about a cup of leftover cubed corned beef, about 1 ½ cups of leftover mashed potatoes, about 1 cup of leftover shredded (raw) cabbage, one leek (chopped), Irish cheddar, fresh mozzarella and thousand island.

If you made corned beef, or you are planning on making it….chances are there will be potatoes involved.  If you make boiled potatoes, and you have some left over….just mash them up.  They will work perfectly.  Or….you could always get some pre-made mashed potatoes from the grocery store. 

I know mashed potatoes on a pizza might sound weird, but if you have ever had the pizza skins from Frankie’s in Chico…you know what I’m talking about.

The first step is to soften the leeks a bit on the stove top.  Have you ever cooked with leeks before?  You have to be really careful with cleaning them.  They get dirt and grit in between all of the layers.  You need to slice them first, and then you swish the slices around in a bowl of water.  The dirt and grit will fall to the bottom, and you can just scoop out your clean leeks.  Don’t skip this step or your leeks will be crunchy.  And not in a good way.

I tossed the leeks into a sauté pan that had a smidge of butter in it.  I also salted and peppered them.  I cooked the leeks just for a few minutes, until they were softened.

Then, I spread a thin layer of my mashed potatoes onto my pizza crust.  Just do a thin layer, or your pizza will get too heavy.

Next came the cooked leeks and the corned beef.

And then the leftover cabbage.

FYI-if you really like Rueben sandwiches, you could totally use sauerkraut here.  I would rather punch myself in the face then eat sauerkraut, but it’s your call.

Finally, the cheeses.  Like I said above, I used a mix of Irish cheddar and fresh mozzarella.  Little hint-if you are using fresh mozzarella…..throw it in the freezer for about 30 minutes before you grate it.  Otherwise it will be a sticky mess.

Now it’s ready for the oven.  I baked this according to the pizza crust package directions….about 15 minutes.

When the pizza came out of the oven, I let it cool a bit.  Then, I swirled on the Thousand Island dressing. 

Tada!  This pizza was amazingly good.  It was salty, creamy, crunchy, etc.  But really, what couldn’t you put on a pizza crust, cover in cheese, and have not be good?

If you have leftover corned beef and cabbage, you have to try this recipe.  Or maybe even make this instead of regular corned beef and cabbage.  I bet that there are a lot of people out there that think they don’t like corned beef and cabbage, but would love this!  It’s pizza…who wouldn’t love it??!!

If you are totally anti making your own corned beef, but you still want this pizza….you can get corned beef from your deli counter.  Just have them slice it thicker then they normally would for a sandwich.

Make this.  I promise…you will love it.

I will have a yummy St. Patrick’s Day dessert to show you on Thursday.  See you all then!

Irish Pizza

One packaged pizza crust

1 tablespoon butter

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 large leek, chopped and cleaned (white and light green parts only)

1 ½ cups mashed potatoes

1 cup corned beef, cubed

½ cup raw cabbage, shredded

1 cup Irish cheddar cheese, shredded

½ cup fresh mozzarella, shredded

¼ cup Thousand Island salad dressing.

Preheat oven according to pizza crust package directions.

In a sauté pan, melt butter.  Add leeks, salt and pepper.  Sauté leeks over medium heat until soft, about 4 minutes.

Place pizza crust on a baking pan.  Spread mashed potatoes on crust.  Top potatoes with corned beef, cooked leeks, cabbage, and cheeses.

Bake according to package directions.

Let pizza cool slightly and top with Thousand Island dressing.

Serves 4 to 6

Corned Beef Time!

Hi everyone!  It’s that time of year…..time for your yearly meal of corned beef and cabbage!  Admit it….even if you love corned beef, I bet you still only eat it once a year.  Unless maybe you are eating it on a Rueben sandwich.  I don’t know why that is.  So many of us love corned beef, yet we only eat it on St. Patrick’s Day.  How come we never sit down to a big ‘ol slab of corned beef on a nice sunny day in July?  Or maybe a cold, snowy day in December?  This is something I will look into, people.  And perhaps I will make a video about it to draw awareness to this injustice.  But probably not.

Last year, I showed you how to make an amazing Irish Mac and Cheese to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.  The recipe is here: http://gourmetrooster.blogspot.com/2011/03/luck-o-irish-mac-and-cheese.html.  That recipe is definitely a great option for St. Patrick’s Day.  It uses leftover corned beef.  So I thought today I would show you my recipe for corned beef, which so happens to be the best corned beef you will ever eat.  And I don’t serve it with boiled cabbage.  That’s gross.

I make my corned beef in the slow cooker.  I make a sauce for the beef to cook in that has Gourmet Rooster Carolina Style BBQ sauce, brown sugar and apple juice in it.  This makes the corned beef sweet, savory and salty.  It is the perfect combination.  Corned beef tends to be kind of salty and blah.  Mine’s not.

 I cook my corned beef with carrots and onions, but no cabbage.  I don’t like what happens to cabbage in the slow cooker.  It gets mushy and slimy.  Instead, I serve my corned beef with my version of “colcannon”.  Colcannon is an Irish dish that is basically mashed potatoes with cabbage mixed in.  My recipe also uses bacon and good Irish cheddar cheese.  You’ll see;)

I start with a corned beef straight from the grocery store.  This one has already been injected with the salt solution, and it comes with a spice packet.  Get this kind.  You don’t want to use a brisket and have to try to put together your own spice mixture.  You’re busy enough.

These corned beefs should be on sale now at your local grocery store.  At my store, they were scheduled to go on sale tomorrow.  I like to miss things by a day.  It keeps me humble.

Like I said above, I also used baby carrots, a big yellow onion, apple juice, Gourmet Rooster Carolina Style BBQ sauce, and brown sugar.

Gourmet Rooster Carolina Style BBQ sauce has a lot of mustard in it.  Corned beef is typically paired with mustard.  It also has lots of spices and vinegar in it.  I can’t reveal all that is in it because then I would have to kill you.  Although I guess you could read the label.  But you’ll never know the quantities.  Ha!

I made a little bed of carrots and onions in the bottom of the slow cooker.  I had cut the onion into chunks. 

I also dumped the spice packet in.

Next, I stirred together the BBQ sauce, apple juice and brown sugar.  I poured this over the beef and set the slow cooker to low.  I cooked mine for 8 hours. 

I know I have always told you to brown your meat before you put it in the slow cooker.  This is my one exception.  Corned beef is typically boiled.  It needs to keep that pink color, and browning it first would ruin that.  In the days of yore (do you know when that was?), beef was “corned” to preserve it.  It has nothing to do with corn, the grain.  The process of curing the beef in salt is what makes it “corned”.  History lesson done.

After eight hours, the beef is done!  I let it rest for a few minutes before slicing it.  Always slice against the grain to keep it tender.  Full discloser, I ate like half before I even got this baby off the cutting board.

I served this with the carrots and onions on the side, and I also drizzled some of the cooking liquid over the beef.  Holy leprechauns….this is good stuff.  You must try this.  If you can’t find Gourmet Rooster Carolina Style BBQ sauce at your local gourmet store, call me.  I will get you some.

How much easier is corned beef when you use your slow cooker?  Seriously, whoever invented the slow cooker (Mrs. Crock?) deserves an award.

The colcannon was really easy too.  I will show you how to make it.

You will notice that this picture is missing mashed potatoes.  That is because I don’t care how you make the potatoes, or where you get them.  Feel free to buy the frozen “steam and mash” variety from the grocery store.  I’m not saying that I did that.  But I did.

Basically, you need enough plain mashed potatoes for 6 people.  Just potatoes mashed with butter, milk, salt and pepper.

I also used bacon, cabbage and Irish cheddar cheese.

You might be asking yourself….how did she shred her cabbage so finely?  Her knife skills must be unmatched.  They aren’t.  I bought a bag of coleslaw.  You know, the bags of shredded cabbage in the produce section?

First things first, shred your cheese.  I love Irish cheddar.  And it isn’t even orange;)  It is really easy to find.  Kerry Gold makes great Irish cheddar.

I diced my bacon and browned it in a big skillet.  When it was done, I removed it with a slotted spoon and left the fat in the pan.

I added the cabbage to the skillet and fried it in the bacon fat.  This took about 3 minutes in a hot pan.

I mixed half of my cheddar into my potatoes.

Then I stirred in the cabbage and most of the bacon.

I transferred this to a baking dish because it needs to go under the broiler.

Before I popped it under the broiler, I topped it with the remaining cheese and bacon.

I broiled it until the cheese was melted and starting to brown.  Potato deliciousness.

I think this is the perfect complement to corned beef.  You still get your cabbage, but you don’t have to choke down slimy, mushiness. And really, what isn’t delicious when topped with cheese and bacon?

Yum!

On Tuesday, I will show you what to do with all that leftover corned beef;)  I have a ton since I bought a gigantic one, and only fed 4 people.  Two of whom are 7 and 4 and don’t eat much.

Have a great weekend!  Stay warm for those of you in cold climates.  To those of you in warmer climates…..shut it.  I’m jealous.

Best Ever Corned Beef

One store bought corned beef with spice packet, about 3 to 4 pounds

3 cups baby carrots

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 jar Gourmet Rooster Carolina Style BBQ Sauce

2 cups apple juice

½ cup brown sugar

Place carrots and chopped onion into slow cooker.  Set beef on top of vegetables.  Sprinkle over spice packet.

In a bowl, stir together BBQ sauce, apple juice and brown sugar.  Pour over beef. 

Cook in slow cooker for 8 hours on low.

Let meat rest before slicing.  Pour cooking liquid over meat.

Colcannon

About 4 to 5 cups of prepared mashed potatoes

6 slices bacon, diced

3 cups cabbage, shredded

7 ounces Irish cheddar, shredded

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat broiler

In a large sauté pan, brown bacon until crisp, about 8 minutes over medium heat.  Remove bacon with slotted spoon and set aside. 

Add cabbage to bacon fat in sauté pan.  Fry cabbage for about 3 or 4 minutes, or until browned.

Stir ½ of the shredded cheese, cabbage and most of the bacon into mashed potatoes, reserving 2 tablespoons of bacon.  Put mashed potato mixture into a baking dish.  Top with remaining cheese and bacon.  Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Serves about 6

Straight Outta Da Pantry-Take Two

Good morning!  Can you believe it is March already?  This winter is flying by, which is fine by me.  I’m excited for Daylight Saving’s Time this weekend too.  I love when it gets darker later.  Maybe I have SAD….Seasonal Affective Disorder.  I should probably look into that.

So like I told you last Thursday….today I will be showing you another “Straight From the Pantry” meal.  And when I say that….just know that I am including your fridge and freezer too.  I am really just trying to say that I am cooking with what I have on hand.  No special trips to the grocery store.  I should change the name….but that would be a really long name.

Besides eggs, tortillas and salsa, which we already covered, many you of you also had spaghetti sauce, or crushed tomatoes, noodles, frozen chicken, frozen beef, etc.  I created a slow cooker meal that is easy and delicious, using these things.  I call this “Italian Pot Roast”.  I will show you what I used, what I had on hand, and what you could use if you have a couple of different items.  For instance, you could totally use chicken or pork instead of beef.  And I served mine on noodles, but you could use rice or potatoes if that is what you have.  You gotta work with what you’ve got.

I happened to have a rump roast in my freezer.  It has been there awhile.  I had high hopes for it back in November that never came to fruition.  I’m kidding.  I have no idea what I had planned for it.  But there it was, tucked in the back of my freezer.  Like I said above, chicken or pork would work too.

I also used a big can of crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, red wine, onion powder, bay leaves, dried basil leaves, crushed oregano, and chive flavored cream cheese.

I have a pretty well stocked spice cabinet, but if you don’t…..you could just use Italian Seasoning.  I am willing to bet that you all have that.  Also, I happened to have about one cup of red wine left in a bottle in the fridge.  I bet you have wine lying around too.  I know you guys;)

If you have spaghetti sauce instead of crushed tomatoes, great!  That will work too.  And I always have tomato paste.  If I don’t have a can of it, I usually have a bit in the freezer.  Did you ever notice that you never use a whole can and you end up with a few tablespoons left?  Freeze it.  It freezes wonderfully.

Lastly, as for the cream cheese….I had that leftover from the weekend, sitting in my fridge.  You could use regular cream cheese or even heavy cream.  If you don’t have any of that….leave it out.  No big deal.

I started by browning my rump in some hot oil first.  I think this is a necessary step for meat that is getting put in the slow cooker, except for chicken.  If you are using chicken….skip this step. If you are using pork loin or pork chops, please brown your meat!

Meanwhile, I threw everything else into the slow cooker.

Then, I added the browned rump roast into the slow cooker.  I cooked mine for 8 hours on low.  If you are using chicken breasts, don’t cook yours for 8 hours.  It will dry out.

This will make your house smell so good!  Kind of like an Italian restaurant.  You will smell the tomatoes and spices…..Yum!!

After 8 hours, I pulled the meat out to rest a bit.  It was tired after cooking that long.

The sauce will be super thick.  The meat cooking in it gives it amazing flavor.  I skimmed the fat off the top and threw that away. 

Don’t forget to pull out your bay leaves!

I stirred my cream cheese into the sauce.  It will melt right in. 

Next, I shredded my meat.  Really any meat cooked in a slow cooker will shred when it is done.  It should just kind of fall apart.

I returned the meat to the slow cooker and let it heat back up a bit.

While the meat was reheating, I boiled a box of noodles. 

I always have noodles on hand.  When all else fails, I give my kids buttered noodles to eat.  Truth be told, they probably would eat buttered noodles every night of the week.  Truth be told again, I probably would too.

This ended up to be such a yummy dinner!  It is a little bit fancier then regular spaghetti, but really not much more difficult.  All the spices that I added really gave this great flavor.  When something cooks all day in a slow cooker, the flavors really concentrate.  You will really taste the wine, garlic, basil and oregano.  And the cream cheese really makes it creamy and delicious.

This was a winner for sure!  Go check your pantry, fridge and freezer.  I bet you have all of this stuff in there.  I know you have the wine;)

See you all on Thursday.  I am going to start sharing St. Patrick’s Day recipes!!

Italian Pot Roast

3 tablespoons oil

Meat, such as a rump roast, chuck roast, pork loin, 4 large pork chops, or 4 large chicken breasts

28 ounce can crushed tomatoes, or 1 jar spaghetti sauce

1/3 cup tomato paste

1 cup red wine

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons onion powder

2 teaspoons crushed oregano

2 teaspoons crushed basil leaves

2 bay leaves

4 ounces chive cream cheese

Preheat large pot.  Add 3 tablespoons oil.  Brown meat on all sides over medium heat.  If using chicken, skip this step.

Add remaining ingredients, except for cream cheese, to slow cooker.  Add browned meat.  Set slow cooker to cook for 8 hours on low.

After 8 hours, remove meat to rest for 10 minutes.   Remove bay leaves and discard.  Skim fat off the sauce and add cream cheese.  Stir until melted.

Shred meat and return to slow cooker to heat through.

Serve over pasta, rice or potatoes.

Serves about 4-6

Straight Outta Da Pantry.....

Good morning!  Still freezing my tush off.  We have actually gotten a lot of snow in the last couple of days.  The good people at our school district didn’t see fit to give us any snow days….so Chris and I have been out shoveling/snow blowing.  Really.  I shovel.  I know it is hard to picture, but I do.  It sucks, but I constantly remind myself that it counts as exercise. 

The snowy weather had gotten me to thinking…..what if I actually got snowed in?  Could I still come up with yummy and easy meals, with what I have in the pantry and fridge/freezer?  Or would we be eating ketchup soup? 

 I had posted on my Facebook wall….”What do you always have in your fridge and pantry”?  I was curious to see if what I had in my pantry and fridge was the same as what everyone else has.  While there were some super healthy people out there who had brown rice and such, most of us have the same things….eggs, tortillas, salsa, noodles, spaghetti sauce or crushed tomatoes, etc.  And some of us had a freakish amount of booze.  Even better, it was my sisters.

I wanted to create a couple of meals from those items that would still be really good….and not just noodles and spaghetti sauce.  I set a goal for myself.  I wanted to create two meals, using only what I had already in my fridge, freezer and pantry.  I was not allowed to go out to buy anything for these meals.  I think I did pretty well, if I do say so myself.  These two meals are still easy enough to bust out on a regular workday.  And it isn’t ketchup soup.

Today I will show you my first meal, which is easy Huevos Rancheros.  Huevos Rancheros is a Mexican breakfast that consists of fried tortillas, topped with a red chili like sauce and fried eggs.  I jazzed mine up with some refried beans that I have had in my pantry since last summer, and I actually poached my eggs in salsa that I have had in my freezer since I moved here. 

 And we ate it for dinner, not breakfast.

I used eggs, flour tortillas, shredded cheese, refried beans, butter, oil, salsa, hot sauce and sour cream.  I don’t typically have sour cream in my fridge.  That was more of a lucky break.  But I do always have cheese, eggs and butter.  I also usually have tortillas because I buy a big bag of them, and then immediately forget about them.  This time I found them before they went bad.

If you have avocados, fresh tomatoes, etc…..even better.  And you are a better woman than I.

I started by frying my tortillas in some oil/butter mix.  I like the taste of tortillas in butter, but I needed the oil for frying.  If you just have oil, don’t sweat the butter.

I fried these for about 3 to four minutes a side.  They will get golden and poofy.  Yes, poofy is a technical term.  They teach it in culinary school;)

I’m kidding.  I’ve never been to culinary school.  But you already knew that, right?

I let the tortillas drain on paper towels.  I also sprinkled them with salt.  If it was totally up to me….this could be dinner.  But my family keeps whining about needing protein, and other stuff that keeps you alive.

I spread my tortillas with the refried beans that I had heated up.

I also topped mine with cheese.  If you don’t have cheese in your fridge, this still tastes great without cheese.

I don’t want to brag, but I had authentic Mexican cheese (cotija) in my freezer.  I didn’t use it because I didn’t want you all to feel badly about your lack of authentic cheese;)

My next step is to poach the eggs in salsa.  Did you know salsa freezes wonderfully?  If you bought it in a jar, just put it in something else to freeze it.

To be honest, I don’t even know where this salsa came from….but there it was….sittin’ in my freezer.  I didn’t even know what it was at first.  It reminded me of when I was little and I would ask my mom what was for dinner.  She would say “I don’t know.  We will see when it defrosts.”  Apparently Carol had an aversion to labeling.

Anyhoo, I put a smidge of oil in the pan first.  I really didn’t want the eggs to stick.  I poured in my salsa and brought it to a light boil over medium heat.

I added my eggs, and reduced the heat to a simmer.  I also covered my pan.

After about 5 minutes, I had perfectly poached eggs.

Now this might not be the prettiest meal in the world, but it tasted great.  And more importantly….I didn’t have to go to the store. 

The eggs poached in  salsa are so yummy!  The yolks mix with the spicy salsa, and it really is a great combination.  And who doesn’t like fried tortillas?

I am betting that you all could make this tonight.  I think your family will be impressed.  So impressed that they won’t realize this was a straight from the pantry meal.  They will think you planned this especially for them.  And I won’t blow your secret.  If you pay me $5 a week for the next 5 years.

On Tuesday, I will have another “Straight outta da pantry” meal for you.  Get ready.

Huevos Rancheros

8 tortillas

4 tablespoons oil, divided

1 tablespoon butter

1 can refried beans, heated

2 cups shredded cheese

2 cups salsa

8 eggs

In a large skillet, melt butter into 3 tablespoons oil, over medium heat.  Fry tortillas, one at a time, until golden brown…about 3 to 4 minutes per side.  Drain tortillas on paper towels and sprinkle with salt.  Spread beans, evenly, over tortillas.  Top evenly with cheese.

In another skillet, add salsa to remaining tablespoon of oil.  Bring salsa to a boil.  Add eggs, one at a time to pot.  Reduce heat to simmer and cover.  Cook eggs for about 5 minutes or until set.  Top each tortilla with an egg and additional salsa.

Serves 4

Tomato Bisque to Warm You Up!

Good morning!  I’m just sittin’ here……freezing my butt off.  It is cooooold here!  But we finally got a good amount of snow, which I keep hearing is a good thing.  I’m on the fence about that.  While I do like to have water to drink….I really don’t like to deal with snow.  So it boils down to me being inconvenienced versus dehydration.  I call it even.

This cold weather made me want soup!  It always does.  And I’ve been wanting to try a recipe that I got from my girlfriend, Janna.  She is a fantastic cook…..and she doesn’t mind that I steal her recipes;) 

I was at Janna’s house a couple of weeks ago, and she had made a yummy tomato bisque.  I, of course, loved it because it has heavy cream in it.  Anything that has cream in it is a winner in my book.  The great thing about this recipe though….you can leave out the cream and it is still crazy good.  But I would never leave the cream out.  That’s crazy talk.

Here is a little sneak peek…..

I will list all the ingredients that you need.  They didn’t all want to pose for a picture at the same time.  Divas.

Bacon

Butter

Carrots

Celery

Onion

Garlic

Flour

Chicken Broth

Canned diced or chopped tomatoes

Thyme

Flat leaf parsley

Bay leaves

Heavy cream

Salt

Black Pepper

Phew…..that seems like a lot, but this soup is easy and reheats well.  You could totally make it when you have the time and eat it at another time.

Let’s start this.

This bisque starts with bacon and butter.  Automatic winner.

You will only need one or two strips of bacon.  Freeze the rest.  Your family will thank you when you bust out the remaining bacon on a Saturday morning.

I chopped the bacon and cooked it up in the butter.  Once it was browned, I removed it with a slotted spoon.  I really just wanted the bacon fat….so you can do whatever you want with the cooked bacon.  It would be great as a garnish for the bisque, but unfortunately, I ate mine before the soup was done.  Oops.

So yeah, remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and keep the fat in the pan.

These guys go in the pot next.

I threw these into the pot and sautéed them in the bacon fat butter combo for about 8 minutes.  And I didn’t actually throw them.  That could cause some serious grease burns on my pretty little face.

BTW-I also seasoned the veggies with salt and pepper.

The next three ingredients are flour, chicken broth and chopped tomatoes.  My package said “chopped”.  Yours might say “diced”.  Same/same.

I added the flour to the sautéed veggies.  This will make a roux to thicken the soup.  I stirred constantly for about 3 minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste.

Then, I added the broth and tomatoes.  I whisked this until it boiled.  It is important to “whisk” as this point to avoid flour clumps.

Next step….some herbage.  Above is the parsley, bay leaves and thyme.  You can put the thyme in as is.  The leaves will fall off the stem, and you just pull the stem out later when you pull the bay leaves out.

I added the herbs to my boiling soup.  I lowered the heat and let this simmer for 30 minutes. 

Once the soup was cooked, and I had pulled out the bay and thyme stem, I went after it with my immersion blender.  I blended until smooth. 

If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can let the soup cool a bit and use a regular blender. 

Hot soup will explode in your blender, so let it cool, and hold the top on with a kitchen towel.  Or let it rip and spend the next few hours cleaning soup off your ceiling.

To make the soup even smoother, as bisque should be….I pressed my soup through a sieve.  You will end up with a silky smooth bisque.

I returned the smooth soup to the pot and added the nectar of the gods….heavy cream.  The soup just needs to heat back up (and check for seasoning) and it is done!  But I have one final garnish for you…..

On my foil lined baking sheet, I dropped little mounds of parmesan cheese.  I flattened them a bit, and I baked this at 400 degrees for 5 minutes.

The parmesan cheese melts and becomes a little parmesan “crisp” that is perfect on soups and salads.  Or by themselves.  I accidentally ate about 5 before the soup was done.  Seriously, it was an accident.  They fell into my mouth.

This soup is so good!  It is smooth, creamy and it tastes really fresh because of the herbs.  And the parmesan melts in….Yum!!

See how smooth that is?  You must try this.  It is the perfect winter soup.  It warmed me up…..even after shoveling my driveway!

So now that you’ve read this….are you wishing you had an immersion blender?  Well you came to the right place!  I am giving one away to one lucky reader.  All you have to do is refer one friend (or more!) to my FB page.  They must “like” my page, and leave a comment telling me who sent them on over.  Not only does that get you an entry, your buddy will also get one too.

This immersion blender is way fancier then mine!  It has a whisk attachment and a chopper!  I will send it to the lucky winner!  This contest ends on Tuesday, March 13^th.

Here is the recipe, straight from Janna:

Tomato Bisque
 
 1 strip bacon, chopped
 4 tablespoons butter
 2 carrots, chopped
 2 celery stalks, chopped
 1 yellow onion chopped
 5 cloves garlic, chopped
 7 tablespoons flour
 5 cups low sodium chicken broth
 28 oz. chopped canned tomatoes
 Sprig of thyme, sprig of parsley, 2 bay leaves
 1 cup heavy cream
 Salt and pep
 
Melt butter in large stockpot, in the butter-sauté bacon pieces for 2 minutes to render the fat. With slotted spoon, remove bacon and discard. On medium heat, Add carrots, celery, onion and garlic and sauté for about 8 minutes. Add flour and stir constantly for 3 min. Add the broth and tomatoes and whisk constantly until it boils. Add parsley, thyme and bay leaves. Lower heat and simmer for 30 min. Remove from heat and let cool.

Once soup is cool, work in batches, transfer soup to blender and purée. Place a sieve over a large bowl and strain the purée into the bowl. Put soup back in pot and reheat. Once hot, remove from heat, whisk in cream and salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.