Roasted Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese
Print PinServings: 6 servings
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Calories: 253kcal
Ingredients
Tomato Soup
- 3 lb ripe tomatoes**
- 8 garlic cloves
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 3 tablespoon salted butter
- 1 ½ cup vegetable broth***
- handful of fresh basil****
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon cane sugar***** optional
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt (or more, add to taste)
- ¼ cup heavy cream
Grilled Cheese
- sourdough bread
- salted butter
- smoked gouda cheese
- cheddar cheese
Instructions
Tomato Soup
- Preheat oven to 400° F. Slice the tomatoes in half and place them on a baking sheet along with the garlic cloves (leave peel on).3 lb ripe tomatoes**, 8 garlic cloves
- Drizzle olive oil over the top. Sprinkle fine sea salt, ground black pepper, and paprika over the tomatoes and garlic, and then toss the tomatoes and garlic with your hands so that they are evenly coated in spices and olive oil. Place the baking sheet in the oven to roast for 40-45 minutes. The tomatoes should be slightly charred.¼ cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon paprika
- While the tomatoes and garlic are roasting, dice the medium yellow onion and add it to a large pot. Saute the onions with the salted butter until they are soft and translucent. You'll want them to cook as long as possible without burning them.1 medium yellow onion, 3 tablespoon salted butter
- Let the tomatoes and garlic cool for 10 minutes and then set aside the garlic cloves. Add the tomatoes to a large blender and make sure to scrape all of the extra juices burned bits from the baking sheet and add them to the blender--these have a lot of flavor that you don't want to miss. Take each garlic clove, and squeeze out the softened inside into the blender, then discard the peel.
- Also add the sauteed onions, vegetable broth, and handful of fresh basil (any hard stems removed) to the large blender. Blend until smooth.1 ½ cup vegetable broth***, handful of fresh basil****
- Pour the contents of the blender back into the pot that the onions were cooked in. Add red pepper flakes, dried oregano, cane sugar, and salt. Stir. Bring it to a boil, then cover with a lid and turn the heat down to low, letting it all simmer for about 10 minutes.¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, ½ teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon cane sugar*****, ½ teaspoon fine sea salt (or more, add to taste)
- Leave the heat on low, and stir in the heavy cream. (Add more if wanted.) Keep warm until serving.¼ cup heavy cream
Grilled Cheese
- Heat a skillet or large pan on medium heat. Butter all sides of the sourdough slices, and cook the inside of the sandwich first (this will make the bread crispier and help the cheese melt faster). Assemble the sandwich and cook on both sides. I like to use a combination of smoked gouda and cheddar because I think it goes well with this soup, but use whatever cheese you like. Shredded cheese and sliced cheese both work.sourdough bread, salted butter, smoked gouda cheese, cheddar cheese
- Serve the grilled cheese with some tomato soup. Enjoy!
Notes
*This calorie count only includes the tomato soup, as there would be too much variation from one grilled cheese to the next to give an accurate number.
**You'll want to use as ripe of tomatoes as possible to get the most flavor. This is a great way to use overripe tomatoes. I'd recommend using on the vine tomatoes, or roma tomatoes. I don't recommend using beefsteak tomatoes because they don't have as much flavor.
***You can add more vegetable broth if you want an even thinner soup, but it will dilute the flavor. I wouldn't recommend adding more than an additional ½ cup.
****For this recipe, I used two 0.5 oz packages of basil from the produce section. After removing the hard stems, they ended up weighing 0.5 oz total, if you'd like to have an exact quantity.
*****Some tomatoes are so sweet, you won't need to add sugar. Taste it and decide if the soup needs it.
Dairy Free Option: This recipe actually tastes delicious without dairy. When sauteeing the onion, use a dairy substitute--if you use olive oil, only use a tablespoon. Leave out the heavy cream, and the soup still tastes great. Serve with sourdough bread instead of grilled cheese.