Creamy Tomato Soup

As the cold weather settles into Iowa, my cooking turns more to hearty soups and stews. One of my favorite soups is tomato basil bisque, but until recently I had never made it from scratch. Then about a month ago I ended up with about a pound of tomatoes on the verge of going bad – I cubed them and threw them in a pot with some salt, garlic, and pepper, and cooked it all down. After some pureeing, some sieving, and the addition of some cream and basil I sat down to my first batch of homemade tomato basil bisque. [...]