Roasted Tomato Soup

I'm going to start out my 2012 recipes by being that obnoxious person who takes a recipe and changes have of the stuff in it, then complains about it. ;)

I decided to make Roasted Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons (link at end of post). I love tomato-y things, and I make another roasted tomato soup that we all love, so I decided to give it a whirl.

It called for three pints of grape tomatoes. We-ell, grape tomatoes are expensive. And I only had one pint of grape tomatoes. Sooo--

Canned tomatoes! I didn't have whole ones on hand so I used just under two cans of diced. Toss 'em on a baking sheet with the grape tomatoes, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stick them in the oven at 400 F and roast for a while.

Next, you need to toss two tablespoons of butter into a pot with a cup of chopped onion, two cloves of garlic (minced), and a tablespoon of olive oil:



Cook those bad boys until soft, then add a can of diced tomatoes and 3-4 cups of broth. I used vegetable because I nearly always use vegetable. Simmer while waiting for the other tomatoes to finish roasting.



Take out the roasted tomatoes:


..and put them in the pot with the rest of the soup ingredients. Simmer a bit longer. In the meantime, make up a grilled cheese sandwich. I highly recommend using homemade bread and real cheddar.

You're almost done! Grill the sandwich and set it aside. Puree the soup in batches in a food processor or use an immersion blender.

Now here's the part I reeeeally skimped on. The recipe then calls for a CUP of heavy cream. I admit I am always hesitant to dump that much fat into something otherwise healthy. I mean, I love me some heavy cream - to whip, to use in ganache, etc. But I decided against it for soup. Instead, I added some coffee cream and milk. Result: eh. It wasn't as creamy as I'd hoped. But it was still good. So, yes, add the cream/milk and heat through without boiling.



Cut the sandwich into "croutons":



And drop them in your soup. The croutons were fantastic and tasted really great with the soup. The soup was decent, but next time I'll try to follow the recipe to a T. ;)


Recipe: http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/roasted-tomato-soup-699298/

I plan to do more new recipes this year, although this one came a bit later than I had anticipated starting. Blame it on bronchitis, rib injury, and crippling pelvic pain as I get huger and huger with child. ;) I also did not bother editing the photos, but will put more effort into this in the future. I promise! Happy eats. :)