It’s cold; it’s time.
Roasted Tomato Soup.
Tomato soup, of course, needs no grand introduction – just a bunch of pictures of it, paired with grilled cheese, in all of its glory. I couldn’t narrow down the pictures – they all looked so good. I hope you will forgive me. Something tells me you will.
This recipe makes a thicker soup, perfect for using as a dipping sauce with grilled cheese sticks, just as delicious to finish off with a spoon.
Last week I hosted a dinner party, and I came up with this idea for an appetizer-soup course hybrid. I knew dinner prep would take me a few minutes to finish up once my guests arrived, but I also knew that they would arrive hungry (per my specific request). This turned out to be a great low-maintenance, high-reward answer.
Fresh, bright ingredients, with very little hands-on time. Just some basic chopping, then to the oven, then to the food processor.
By making the soup the day before and re-heating it on the stove as the guests waked in, I was able to check one (delicious) dinner dish off my list. I prepped the cheese on the bread a few hours in advance too, and pressed the prepared sandwiches in a skillet over medium-high heat as everyone grabbed a drink and got settled. I cut the finished grilled cheese into slices on a cutting board and served it up – this was definitely a dish to repeat.
Everyone has their own tomato soup recipe, and this one hails from one of my favorite cooking club menus: Soup’s On! (Hostess: me; Theme: Soup’s On!; Date: 12.07.08) An all-soup dinner, including a lasagna soup for the main course, and chocolate soup with marscapone grilled cheese sandwiches for dessert. Speaking of… why haven’t I made that one recently?
The recipe is easy to remember, a good one to keep in mind when you are at the grocery store and realize you forgot your shopping list. 10 plum or roma tomatoes, a small red onion (or 1/4 of a large one), some garlic cloves, and basil leaves and oregano. Easy enough! Also inexpensive, depending on the going rate for tomatoes.
Grilled cheese “croutons.” Come on. Brilliant.
- 10 roma or plum tomatoes
- ¼ red onion (or one small red onion)
- 6 garlic cloves
- 3 sprigs fresh oregano
- 4 basil leaves
- 1 T balsamic vinegar
- 1 T extra virgin olive oil
- freshly-ground black pepper
- {low-sodium chicken stock, if you prefer thinner soup}
- Heat the oven to 375.
- Slice the tomatoes into quarters, removing the stems and the tough area around them.
- Place the tomatoes cut-side down in a large baking dish; they fit perfectly in my 9"x13" glass pyrex.
- Slice the red onion, and smash the garlic cloves. Sprinkle them both around the tomatoes.
- Pull the oregano off of the sprigs, and distribute the oregano and basil leaves around the tomatoes as well.
- Drizzle with the balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, and top with black pepper. No need to toss.
- Roast for 45 minutes, until the tomatoes soften.
- Transfer to a food processor, and process to your desired consistency.
- If you like your soup a little thinner, just add low-sodium chicken stock until it looks like how you want it!
Tell me what you think!