By Andrew Zimmern
For this quintessential pairing, I like to double down on the tomato flavor by adding thinly sliced roasted tomatoes to my sandwich, before schmearing it with mayo and toasting in a pan with parmesan, frico style. It’s the perfect balance of textures and flavor, and the ideally suited to dip into a classic cream of tomato soup.
Ultimate Grilled Cheese & Cream of Tomato Soup
Ingredients
Cream of Tomato Soup
- 5 pounds mixed tomatoes, cored and quartered
- 1/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 1/3 cup minced shallots
- Bouquet garni of rosemary, basil, bay leaves and thyme
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 2 cups tomato puree
- 5 cups rich stock, chicken or vegetable
- 2 cups cream
- Parmesan Toasties, for garnish
Grilled Cheese
- White sandwich bread
- Large ripe tomatoes
- American cheese
- Ground Parmesan cheese
- Mayonnaise
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
Place the mixed tomatoes in a bowl and coat with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Season with salt and black pepper. Pour the tomatoes onto a rimmed baking sheet and roast in the oven for 90 minutes.
Place a large soup pot over medium heat.
Add the remaining olive oil, shallots, bouquet garni and garlic. Season with salt and sweat the onions until they begin to color. Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes. Add the roasted tomatoes and juices, cook for 5 minutes. Next, stir in the tomato puree and the stock.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower heat to maintain simmer. Cook slowly, covered, for 75 minutes, stirring frequently until a rich consistency is achieved and the tomatoes release their sugars.
Taste the soup and adjust seasonings as necessary. Discard the herb sachet. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup to your liking, you may still want some chunks of tomato in the mix. A blender works too.
If you need to thin your soup, do so with drizzles of stock.
Add the cream and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Taste again for seasoning and serve with croutons. I like to toast my own and toss in a pan with fresh parmesan to make little frico toasties…. Watch me make them here: https://youtu.be/QagDS5HmeX4
