Soup's On

Grilled cheese and tomato soup. I always have cheese and bread for grilled cheese but I never make myself a grilled cheese unless I also have tomato soup. Oh, and after trying condensed tomato soup with water once, I won’t make condensed tomato soup unless I also have milk! I’m a food snob, I know.

Grilled cheese and tomato soup takes me back to being a kid. I can remember one occasion when my mom had some tomato basil bagels from a local bagel shop. She cut them open, put slices of Swiss cheese on them and toasted them under the broiler. Then we dipped them in tomato soup… And now I wish I lived anywhere near a bagel shop that made tomato basil bagels!

I’m pretty sure I could go on for days on this topic… Tomato soup is the perfect pairing for gooey, melted cheese held together by glorious toasted slices of carbs! It’s a simple meal, kids love it and it will warm you right up on a blustery fall day.

I’ve been wanting to try to make my own tomato soup for a while now. I still have love for the “Mmm… Mmm… Good” stuff but I have always thought there was probably a way to make it at home with less sodium and no preservatives. And what better time to find out than when you have a CSA box full of season’s end tomatoes.

When I started tossing ingredients in my roasting pan for this, it occurred to me that I was really making a roasted vegetable soup. I promise, tomatoes are still the star! There’s like a 50:50 ratio of tomatoes to all other vegetables! I wanted some sweetness from the carrots and bell pepper to balance the acidic tomatoes and things like garlic, onion and celery to add some flavor. Otherwise, this would be a tomato sauce recipe!

As often happens when I cook; there was way more soup than my family was going to eat in a reasonable amount of time so I froze three quarters of it for later. This way I have soup ready when I need a quick, hot lunch or a good goulash base!

Roasted Tomato Soup

4 pounds garden tomatoes, cored and chunked

2 carrots, chunked

2 stalks celery, chunked

1 small red bell pepper, chunked

1 medium onion, chunked

3 cloves garlic, pealed

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp dried basil

1 Tbsp kosher salt, plus more to taste

½ tsp black pepper

½ cup cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 425°F

Fill bottom of non-reactive roasting pan with tomato chunks. Layer remaining vegetable chunks and garlic on top of tomatoes. Drizzle vegetables with olive oil and sprinkle with basil, salt and pepper.

Roast at 425° for 1 hour. Allow to cool slightly then blend in batches until all soup is smooth. Taste and adjust salt as necessary.

To serve, heat on stove until hot then remove from heat and add cream if using.

Note: If you plan to freeze soup, I suggest freezing without the cream and adding it after reheating.