Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup – truly a match made in heaven. The buttery crispy bread dipped in a savoury soup cannot be beaten. Such a classic American dish that is so so easy to make. While simple, each component requires attention to detail to achieve that nostalgic, satisfying result. Let me show you how it’s done.

Understanding Your Components

1. Soup:
   • roasting your vegetables brings out the sweetness of your veggies and intensifies the flavours in the soup
   • Make sure to spread out your veggies into a single layer when roasting. We want optimal char on the veggies for extra flavour.
   • Use vegetable stock to make this soup vegetarian, otherwise you can also use chicken stock for more flavour
   • Cream adds richness and makes the soup thicker. Swap out for coconut cream if you cannot consume dairy.
   • I recommend you using a blender and blend it in batch to achieve a smooth texture
2. The Grilled Cheese
   • Cheese blend: i used mozzarella for the stretch and cheddar for the flavour and sharpness. You can opt out for other types of cheese as well.
   • Bread: a crusty white loaf is perfect for this recipe. e.g. pane di casa, sourdough are great options.
   • Butter: is key! Add butter to the pan to toast your bread, it adds trememdous flavour to your grilled cheese. Turn your heat down to prevent the butter from burning
   • When you’re grilling your grilled cheese, cover the pan to allow the heat to melt the cheese.

Storage and Make-Ahead Tips

• Soup can be refrigerated 4-5 days. Freezes well without cream for up to 1 month.
• Reheat on a gentle heat. Add cream when reheating. Adjust thickness as needed with stock/cream
• Grilled cheese: Best made fresh
• Serve immediately

Ingredients

6 tomatoes, quartered
1 onion, quartered
1 capsium/ bell pepper, chopped
1 whole garlic bulb
Chilli flakes (optional)
1/2-1 cup unsalted vegetable stock
1/2-1 cup cream
3-4 basil leaves
Salt and pepper

Slices of your favourite bread
Mozzarella cheese
Cheddar cheese
Butter

Honestly, add whatever you have on hand and as much as your heart can take 🙂

Method

 Chop off the top of your garlic bulb, leaving the cloves exposed. With your garlic, place all your other chopped vegetables into a large baking dish, drizzle generously with olive oil, chilli flakes, salt and pepper and bake at 200C for 50-60 mins until the vegetables are slightly charred and soft.

[optional] Use a blow torch and lightly torch your roasted vegetable to add extra char if you like your soup smokey. Careful not to burn it.

Transfer your vegetables into a pot or a blender with your stock, cream and basil (adjust how much stock/ cream to add to how thick/thin you like your soup). With a stick blender or a normal blender, blend your soup until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

For your grilled cheese, cut up 2 slices of bread. You can use any cheese you want or have on hand. I used mozzarella for the stretch and cheddar for the bitey taste. Butter your bread and grate as much cheese as your heart can take. Grill in a pan over medium heat until golden brown and cheese melted. Serve with tomato soup.