There is nothing more comforting than a bowl of warm tomato soup and a finger of a good grilled cheese to dunk in it. This is a homemade classic menu the whole family will fall in love with.
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 20 Minutes
Start to Table: 35 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Ready
- 3 to 5 lbs tomatoes, stemmed and cubed
- Olive oil
- ½ onion, diced
- 1-3 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup cream or yogurt
- Basil, chopped
- Salt
- Pepper
- A good bread (I prefer ciabatta)
- Gruyere, sharp cheddar, or mozzarella cheese, sliced
- Olive oil, butter or clarified butter
Set
- Dutch oven or soup pot
- Immersion blender, blender, or food processor
- skillet, George Forman grill or Panini press.
- Spatula
Go
Soup
- Coat the bottom of the dutch oven with olive oil.
- Sweat onions and garlic in the oil over medium low heat. This will take about 10 minutes for the onions to turn nice and soft.
- Add tomatoes and another healthy pour of olive oil. Raise heat to medium and stew for 10 to 15 minutes.
Grilled Cheese
- Slice loaf into thick (½ inch) sandwich sized slices.
- Line slice with cheese and cover
- Brush outside with olive oil (or butter)
- Toast on high heat in Pannini press or grill on both sides in a well greased skillet.
- When outside is toasted and cheese is melted, remove from heat and let cool.
Bring it all together
- Once tomatoes are soft remove pot from heat and blend.
- Add cream, salt, pepper and stir into soup. Adjust to taste.
- Add chopped basil and serve.
- Cut grilled cheese into into finger sized portions perfect for dunking into the soup.
What you should know
An immersion blender is the easiest way to blend the soup. A regular blender is a good option. A food processor requires some care to keep soup from spilling over the top.
If you use butter instead of olive oil add a touch of olive oil to the butter to help keep it from burning. Clarified butter which has a higher smoke point is another good option.
Yogurt makes a tasty substitute for cream.