I love a good tomato soup. There is something so comforting about a piping hot bowl of creamy tomato bisque with a side of good bread or better yet, a grilled cheese sandwich. It really doesn’t get much better.

I’ve made a promise to myself that this season on Tumbleweed Farm I’m going to do a better job of preserving tomatoes. We did a few small batches last season but not nearly enough. The wintertime and early spring is such a lovely time of the year for tomato soups, stews, and chili. I wan’t to be more prepared heading into the slow season this year so stay on me guys!

This soup turned out to ba a happy accident in the kitchen. We got a nice dose of rain on Friday afternoon and needed something warm and soothing to bring us back to normal after a long and wet day in the fields. Standing in front of my stove, mindlessly stirring a pot of this spicy soup was just what the doctor ordered. When Taylor got out of the shower he walked into the kitchen and said, “I don’t know what you’ve got cooking but it smells awesome.” He took a mandatory taste test and confirmed that it was just as tasty as he predicted.

I couldn’t resist topping our bowls with fresh chives and those crunchy lentil croutons I’ve been making. If you haven’t made the lentils yet do so soon! They’re great to have on hand for topping everything from salads to dips and of course soup. We served our tomato bisque with chickpea flatbreads that we jazzed up with a few healthy pinches of za’atar. You can find my recipe for chickpea flatbread here.

This tomato soup definitely has some wiggle room to make it your own. Whenever I make soup I always taste test as I go. So the recipe below is just a basic guide. As with all of my recipes, I try and encourage people to trust themselves and add a little of this or that to make the dish suit their individual taste preference. When it comes to spice always start with less and add more as you go. I added quite a bit of harissa as I went, but I’ve scaled that back in the recipe below so you can take charge of how much heat you want. This soup is a lovely combination of spicy, sweet and creamy. All of my favorite things on a dreary spring evening. I hope you all enjoy this meal as much as we do. Grab a spoon and dig in!