Happy March everyone! Can you believe it is already March? I can't! Spring is hopefully on the horizon, no more snow, warmer temperatures, and the chance to actually enjoy the outdoors rather than running to get out of it! Granted, this week's weather forecast is not looking particularly promising, with yet more snow on the horizon. Bummer!
As promised, today's blog post will be my favorite tomato soup and grilled cheese recipe. Let me disclose a little secret, I'm not the biggest fan of soups, granted they definitely have their appropriate time and place and a nice cup of homemade tomato soup and a grilled cheese are a great antidote to the winter weather and such a classic combo, how can you go wrong?!?
Lets do the soup portion first, since it takes longer to make but as you do, the soup's perfume starts to spread throughout your house, such a nice treat! I always love it when your apartment or house is enhanced by the aroma of whatever it is you are cooking that day...this is definitely a dish that does that!
Ok ladies and gents, ready to roll your sleeves up and get cooking?!
Here's the list of ingredients that I recommend for a tomato soup, granted you totally do not have to follow this, if you have your favorite tomato soup recipe...I think that's one of those things that most people like, just so..
2 lb tomatoes
1 cup of sundried tomatoes diced
1 large onion, diced
1 scallion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 medium carrots, chopped
1 large piece of celery, chopped
1 red pepper diced
1/2 orange pepper diced
Olive Oil
2 globs or tablespoons of tomato paste
2 cups of vegetable stock (I don't eat meat, so I like veggie stock, however if you do, and prefer chicken stock, go for it and substitute away!)
2 cups of water
A little bit of white cooking wine
Thyme
Rosemary
Bay Leaves
Fresh Basil and Parsley
Red Pepper Flakes
Salt
Black pepper
Okie dokie, now that you have all of your ingredients out, lets get the tomatoes going. Make a small x in the bottom of the tomatoes before tossing them in boiling water to blanch them, this makes it so that you can easily peel their skins off. While blanching, toss the carrots, celery, red and orange peppers, sundried tomatoes, scallions, onions, garlic, black and red pepper, salt, and herbs with olive oil and some white cooking wine in a pan, and saute till everything is just barely cooked, but all the flavors have melded together. Now take your blanched tomatoes and cut them in half. Take the tomatoes, all the other veggies that have been sauteed, veggie stock, water, more olive oil, fresh basil, parsley, bay leaf, tomato paste, and I like to add a little more wine or even Madeira here and now simmer for about thirty minutes over a very low heat. I like to take off the stove and blend the soup so you get a nice smooth texture but if you prefer chunky soup then definitely don't choose this route. Some people like their tomato soup creamy and if you do, add between a half and a full cup of whipping cream to the pot while you cook.
Now that you have your soup done, I like to garnish it with some freshly grated Parmesan and a couple fresh basil leaves. Resist gobbling up the entire bowl, till you've made your sandwich!
For this sandwich, I like to use a nice crusty french baguette and keep it really simple. If you are starting with a full baguette, cut off between 1/3 and 1/4 of the bread and then cut this horizontally. On either side, drizzle a bit of both regular extra virgin olive oil and basil oil. Then grind some fresh pepper and salt on either side, what really makes this I think is the peppery oomph! Add a bit of rosemary and thyme and then top with a few slices of raclette cheese. Raclette is a raw cow's milk semi soft cheese from the Savoie region of France, it has similar characteristics to some Swiss cheeses like Gruyere and Appenzeller, excellent melting cheeses, but this baby is sweeter and softer than its swiss neighbors and is an oustandingly dynamic when melted. Once you've put the cheese on and have your herbs and oils on the baguette, go ahead and toast!
Now you've got both components ready for a delish meal, enjoy them separately, together, or one right after the other, however you prefer....I like this with a nice beer or a nice red wine, like a nice smooth Cabernet.
Enjoy and let's keep our fingers crossed that it will be Gazpacho season soon.
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