The ultimate comfort food, tomato bisque, becomes a rich and satisfying meal with the addition of barramundi and some low carb cheesy garlic bread. This post is sponsored by NoshOnIt Publisher Partner Program.  

Here we are, not even one full week into spring and I’ve got a miserable cold. Deep, wracking cough, itchy stuffed nose, full body aches, the works. But since I made it through an unequivocally harsh winter with nary a sniffle, I’d say that’s not too bad. Not when you have three school age kids who bring home every germ and bug that enters the town limits. In fact, we all came through this winter relatively unscathed. Shocking when the snow piled up almost weekly and the bitter chill sent our heating bill into the stratosphere. Thank goodness we’re finally on this side of it. I don’t expect to see buds popping quite yet but it is officially spring and I am grateful.

That said, a wicked cold like this one can make me curtail my plans for everything. When I take on assignments and figure out my editorial calendar, I assume full health and all the energy that comes with it. So my intention for this post highlighting barramundi was definitely more grand in scale. If you haven’t seen my other barramundi posts, I definitely recommend them. Barramundi is a versatile white fish that is sustainably farmed in an environmentally friendly way, and still maintains high levels of Omega 3s. Wins all around. I’ve made it simply by grilling it (on my panini press, since my real grill was deep in snow at the time) and I’ve turned it into some of the best fish cakes I have ever eaten. And for my next trick, I was planning on making cioppino, the Italian seafood stew that includes clams, mussels, shrimp and fish in a tomato based broth.

Sounds pretty good, right? Except that this cold hit and I wanted comfort food. I wanted a thick, creamy soup with enough kick that I could taste it through this stuffy nose. And I wanted it to be easy with a capital E. Cioppino is actually pretty easy but just going out and buying the fresh shellfish seemed like a lot of work to my aching body. So I decided to scale back my plans and make the ultimate comfort soup…tomato. In this case, a rich, flavorful tomato bisque with a kick of spice and some heavy whipping cream. Then I simply skinned and chopped my barramundi and tossed it in at the end to simmer for 10 minutes. To my delight, the whole thing came together perfectly. Full of flavour and the barramundi became fall-apart tender in the soup.

I also decided that I wanted garlic bread to dip into my soup. Tomato soup is just not the same without something bready to dip into it. I took my low carb panini bread recipe and halved it, then rolled it out a bit thinner than the original. I brushed it with some garlic butter, sprinkled it with cheese and baked it. It made the perfect little bread dippers for my tomato bisque. And even though I’d really still like to try making cioppino, I think this was the right recipe to bring you as we stand on the edge of spring. May you be cold-free until next winter!

Disclosure: This post was sponsored via the NoshOn.It Publisher Partner Program by a leading barramundi producer. All opinions, thoughts, recipes, photography, random tangents and incoherent ramblings are my own.

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Spicy Tomato Barramundi Bisque and Cheesy Garlic Flatbread

The ultimate comfort food, tomato bisque, becomes a rich and satisfying meal with the addition of barramundi and some low carb cheesy garlic bread.

Servings: 10 servings

Ingredients

Tomato Barramundi Bisque:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 onion finely chopped
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 4 garlic cloves finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp chipotle powder or chili powder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 4 cups chicken broth preferably homemade
• 1 28- ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1 & 1/2 lbs barramundi filets skinned and chopped into 1/2 inch chunks
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Cheesy Garlic Flatbread:

• 1/2 recipe l Low Carb Panini Bread
• 2 tbsp butter melted
• 3 cloves garlic minced or crushed
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions

Tomato Barramundi Bisque:

1. In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter until just frothing.
2. Add onion and salt and cook, stirring frequently, until onions are translucent.
3. Add garlic, pepper flakes, chipotle powder and pepper and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
4. Stir in white wine and cook until liquid is reduced by at least half.
5. Add broth and crushed tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. (At this point, bisque can be chilled and set aside for up to 24 hours if you are trying to make it ahead of time. Bring bisque back to a simmer before continuing.)
6. Add fish chunks and let simmer 10 more minutes, until fish is cooked through but still tender.
7. Stir in heavy cream, season with additional salt and pepper if desired, and serve.

Cheesy Garlic Flatbread:

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Prepare a half recipe of low carb panini bread dough and roll out between pieces of parchment paper to a thickness of about 1/2 inch.
3. Remove top piece of parchment and transfer bread still on bottom parchment to a large cookie sheet.
4. Combine melted butter, garlic and salt in a small bowl and brush over bread dough.
5. Sprinkle with cheese and bake about 15 minutes, until cheese is melted and beginning to brown.
6. Remove and let cool about 10 minutes before cutting.

Recipe Notes

Serves 10 when eaten together as a meal (soup and bread).

Per serving for bisque: 235 Calories; 13g Fat (50.3% calories from fat); 21g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 61mg Cholesterol; 542mg Sodium. Total NET CARBS = 6 g.

Per serving for bread: 222 Calories; 18g Fat (71.5% calories from fat); 9g Protein; 7g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 67mg Cholesterol; 330mg Sodium. Total NET CARBS = 3 g.