Baked Tomato Bisque (aka Heaven in a Bowl)

I am beyond ecstatic to finally get a hold of this recipe. It hales from The Brasserie, a local restaurant, and I have never had anything quite like it. The night of our rehearsal dinner, we ate at The Brasserie, and I remember the soup being especially delicious. I haven't yet tried it for myself; yes, the ingredient list is pretty long. Still, I KNOW it will be worth it. Try it, you'll see.

Ingredients
16 1/2 inch thick french bread baguette slices
olive oil
1/4 cup plus 2 TB unsalted butter
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes with puree
¾ cup tomato juice
3 TB tomato paste
2 TB golden brown sugar
¼ tsp white pepper
½ lb mushrooms, sliced
½ TB chopped fresh parsley
½ tsp chopped fresh oregano
½ tsp chopped fresh basil
½ tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 cup whipping cream
2 cups chicken stock, or canned lo-salt broth
4 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
8 thin slices of Provolone cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place bread slices on heavy large cookie sheet. Brush both sides of bread with oil. Bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Cool.

Melt 2 TB butter in heavy large saucepan over low heat. Add half of chopped tomatoes, carrot, celery and half of chopped onion and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and sauté 2 minutes. Mix in crushed tomatoes, tomato juice, tomato paste, sugar and pepper. Cover and cook over low heat 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally.

Cool tomato mixture slightly. Puree in batches in blender. Set puree aside. Melt remaining ¼ cup butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add remaining chopped tomatoes, remaining onion, mushrooms, parsley, oregano, basil and thyme and sauté until vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes. Mix in tomato puree and cream. Soup will be very thick. Add enough stock to thin to desired consistency. Cook until heated through, stirring frequently. Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate soup. Store croutons in plastic bag at room temperature. Re-warm soup.

Preheat broiler. Ladle soup in 1 ½ cup oven proof soup crocks. Top each with two croutons. Top with mozzarella and provolone cheese. Broil until soup bubbles and cheese melts, watching carefully, about 1 minute. Serve hot. Yields 8.