Creamy tOmatO bisque......Help Support Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

1st: Signed copy of Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen by Gina DePalma, Executive Pastry Chef of Babbo Ristorante in NYC, who is currently battling ovarian cancer, inspired this event, and will be choosing her favorite recipe for this prize;2nd: Signed copy of Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes to Cook at Home by Mario Batali (winner chosen by Sara);3rd: Signed copy of Vino Italiano: The Regional Italian Wines of Italy by Joseph Bastianich (winner chosen by Michelle).One winner chosen at random will receive a Teal Toes tote bag filled with ovarian cancer awareness goodies that you can spread around amongst your friends and family.Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the United States and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women; a woman?s lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is 1 in 67.The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often vague and subtle, making it difficult to diagnose, but include bloating, pelvic and/or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly; and urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency).There is no effective screening test for ovarian cancer but there are tests which can detect ovarian cancer when patients are at high risk or have early symptoms.In spite of this, patients are usually diagnosed in advanced stages and only 45% survive longer than five years. Only 19% of cases are caught before the cancer has spread beyond the ovary to the pelvic region.When ovarian cancer is detected and treated early on, the five-year survival rate is greater than 92%.
This one is for you, Mama.




I?ll be honest with you, as an adult, I don?t make half of the things I remember Mama making. I do make the Dutch pancakes and the rice pudding. And, my daughter loves fried tomatoes and onions almost as much as I do, except that she likes it on top of her pasta. Lately, though, I?ve been experimenting a bit with tomato soup, or more precisely, tomato bisque. I found a recipe years ago that I love and I morphed it into my own version. It is really tasty and, as it uses canned tomatoes, it works well in the winter when the tomatoes in the store resemble mealy, pink baseballs. But, the other day, my friend and coworker, Brenda, was nice enough to bring me a bag of fresh tomatoes from her sister?s farm. They begged for me to use them in my tomato bisque---I was about to wing it!

This is the recipe as I made it:

Creamy Tomato Bisque

Ingredients:


1/2 cup butter
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup flour
4 cups chicken broth (may use vegetable broth)
2 (28 oz) cans whole tomatoes, chopped with juice
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons basil
1 teaspoon tarragon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme
2 bay leaves
2 cups light cream
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
Salt to taste


Directions:

Melt butter in large pot over medium/high heat. Add onions, carrots and green pepper and sauté for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is softened. Add the flour and continue to sauté for another minute, stirring constantly. Add the chicken broth, tomatoes, sugar, basil, tarragon, cayenne pepper, thyme and bay leaves. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Remove the bay leaves and, working in batches, puree the soup in a blender until almost smooth. Return the pureed soup to the pot, add the cream, paprika, curry powder and white pepper; heat the soup until it is hot, but not boiling. Salt to taste.


I wasn't really sure how to go about replacing the canned tomatoes with the fresh, so I turned to the trusty BakeSpace.com and my friend Karen suggested roasting them. So I cored 5 or 6 large tomatoes and cut them into wedges. Then I put them in a large pan, sprinkled them with some salt and pepper and a splash of olive oil and roasted them for about 40 minutes in a 425 degree oven. Then, instead of blending the bisque at the end, I used a food mill to rid my tomatoes of the skin and the seeds before I added it to the soup. Since I was out of green pepper, I used a hot pepper (also from Brenda's sister's farm), scraping out the seeds, so it wouldn't be so hot. At the end, I used the food mill again, to smooth it all out.

All I can say is wow! Next time I'll have to try some of those little meatballs, but for now a nice grilled cheese sandwich will have to do.