There is nothing more comforting than a bowl of warm tomato soup and a finger of a good grilled cheese to dunk in it. This is a homemade classic menu the whole family will fall in love with.

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 20 Minutes
Start to Table: 35 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ready

• 3 to 5 lbs tomatoes, stemmed and cubed
• Olive oil
• ½ onion, diced
• 1-3 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup cream or yogurt
• Basil, chopped
• Salt
• Pepper
• A good bread (I prefer ciabatta)
• Gruyere, sharp cheddar, or mozzarella cheese, sliced
• Olive oil, butter or clarified butter

Set

• Dutch oven or soup pot
• Immersion blender, blender, or food processor
• skillet, George Forman grill or Panini press.
• Spatula

Go

Soup

1. Coat the bottom of the dutch oven with olive oil.
2. Sweat onions and garlic in the oil over medium low heat. This will take about 10 minutes for the onions to turn nice and soft.
3. Add tomatoes and another healthy pour of olive oil. Raise heat to medium and stew for 10 to 15 minutes.

Grilled Cheese

1. Slice loaf into thick (½ inch) sandwich sized slices.
2. Line slice with cheese and cover
3. Brush outside with olive oil (or butter)
4. Toast on high heat in Pannini press or grill on both sides in a well greased skillet.
5. When outside is toasted and cheese is melted, remove from heat and let cool.

Bring it all together

1. Once tomatoes are soft remove pot from heat and blend.
2. Add cream, salt, pepper and stir into soup. Adjust to taste.
3. Add chopped basil and serve.
4. Cut grilled cheese into into finger sized portions perfect for dunking into the soup.

What you should know

An immersion blender is the easiest way to blend the soup. A regular blender is a good option. A food processor requires some care to keep soup from spilling over the top.

If you use butter instead of olive oil add a touch of olive oil to the butter to help keep it from burning. Clarified butter which has a higher smoke point is another good option.

Yogurt makes a tasty substitute for cream.