Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese || For Grown-ups

Grilled cheese and tomato soup is a favorite comfort food of mine. However, we're adults now and we need to keep it classy. Although I admit it to be quite tasty, there shall be no more Campbell's condensed soup and Wonderbread with Kraft Singles! Check out my twist on this American classic.

Roasted Tomato Soup

Heirloom, Plum, Campari, Vine Ripened

Ingredients:

5 lbs of assorted tomatoes (just go to the tomato section and       pile a bunch of different ones on the scale)

6 Cups of chicken STOCK (chicken broth isn't the same)

1 head of garlic, peeled (apx 10 cloves)

1 large yellow onion, diced (apx 2cups)

1 Cup heavy cream (more or less if you want)

4 Bay leaves

3 Tablespoons of butter

1 handfull of chopped fresh basil

Olive Oil

Salt & Fresh ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 450.

Cut the tomatoes into quarters and scoop out the seeds with a metal teaspoon. Spread the seeded tomato pieces and peeled garlic cloves out on a foiled baking sheet. Drizzle generously with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for apx 30-40 minutes or until they start turning brown and caramelized. 

In a large soup pot, melt butter on medium high heat. Add onions and saute until they're soft. Add the roasted tomatoes and garlic to the pot. Pour in 6 cups of chicken stock and add the bay leaves. Reduce the heat and let it simmer until half of the liquid is gone. Apx 30-40 min. Pick out the bay leaves and add the fresh basil. 

If you don't have an immersion blender (the handheld stick kind) then you can puree it in a regular blender in batches. Return the blended soup  to the pot and slowly mix in the cream. Let simmer for 10 more minutes then add more salt and pepper if you want.

 Baller Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Fresh Sourdough bread, gruyere cheese, (shredded so it melts better) sliced tomato, arugula, prosciutto and course ground or Dijon mustard. Then, cook it a pan with a little bit of butter and truffle oil.