Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup
Grilled cheese and tomato soup is a classic pairing that really just works wonderfully together. I was first exposed to this pairing at a SIG poker tournament - although it was a while ago I still remember that it tasted amazing and am finally trying to replicate it. Surprisingly, I've actually never made a grilled cheese up until this point, but I was pretty happy with the results. This dish is truly a symphony of textures and flavors - crispy, creamy, and thick; savory, tart, and fresh. It's not too difficult and I would definitely recommend giving it a try!
Active Time: 30 min
Total Time: 40 min
Ingredients
Tomato Soup: (4 servings)
> tomatoes (around 5-6 roma tomatoes, or roughly 4 cups diced)
> onion (1 large)
> yukon gold potato (1)
> chicken stock (~1.5 cups)
> basil
> salt, pepper, butter, olive oil
Grilled Cheese: (4 servings)
> sourdough bread (8 large slices)
> truffle white cheddar (~8 oz)
> aged provolone (~8 oz)
> butter
> cayenne, pepper
Instructions
Tomato soup:
1. In a medium pot over medium-high heat, sweat the diced onion with olive oil. Add a whole bunch of basil leaves in. Sweat for around 7-8 minutes, or until lightly softened.
2. Add diced yukon potatoes, chicken stock, and diced tomatoes. Bring up to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for roughly 15 minutes.
3. Remove the basil and transfer the entire mixture to a blender. Puree the mixture until smooth. Strain and transfer it back into the pot.
4. Return the pot to medium heat, and add a couple tablespoons of butter (feel free to adjust to achieve your desired consistency). Once fully melted and incorporated, adjust for seasoning (salt and pepper).
5. Serve in a bowl. Garnish with a chiffonade of basil.
Grilled cheese:
1. Grate the cheddar and provolone, and season with a little bit of cayenne, pepper, and salt if necessary.
2. Using room-temperature butter, generously spread butter over one side of each slice of sourdough bread.
3. In a cast-iron set over medium-low to medium heat, add a slice of bread (buttered side down). Then generously top it with the cheese mixture, and place the other slice of bread on top.
4. Toast until golden brown. Flip using a spatula, and toast the other side until golden brown as well. This should take roughly 5-7 minutes per side or so.
5. Remove from the pan, quickly slice in half using a sharp knife, and serve with the soup!
Notes/Tips:
> This recipe for the soup thickens up in a somewhat unique way - by using Yukon gold potatoes! They are really starchy, and when pureed really help thicken it up. Accept no substitutes for this - Russet potatoes are great but don't quite have the same texture.
> Feel free to use whatever types of cheese that you prefer. I'm no expert with cheese, so I just arbitrarily picked two that seemed like they would be good. The cayenne with the cheddar worked really well together though!
> Make sure that your butter is at room temperature - otherwise it will be extremely hard to effectively spread over the bread. Be generous - the butter really helps achieve an even cook on the bread and get that golden-brown crispy texture.
> The key to a good grilled cheese is to use a relatively low heat setting and cook it for a long time. You want to have just the right balance of heat such that the exterior achieves that golden-brown crispy texture just as the cheese is melting. A common mistake is to use too high of a heat setting, which doesn't adequately melt the cheese.
> To make this vegetarian, simply use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. The flavor shouldn't differ much.
> I read somewhere that adding a bit of chopped chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (no clue what this is) creates a nice roasted tomato flavor. I haven't tried this myself though.
> Feel free to use whatever type of bread you prefer. I love sourdough bread so I went ahead and used that, but realistically speaking anything should work.
> I like to add a bit of fruit preserves to add a bit of sweet/tart contrast. Adding it to the cheese mixture or smearing a light coating on the inside of one of the slices of bread works well.