Roasted Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese

What you’ll need:

For the grilled cheese:

• Loaf of sourdough

• Muenster, American or Gruyère cheese (or all three)

• Optional: Ham or bacon

• Garlic butter or mayo

For the soup:

• 2 yellow onions

• 1 shallot

• 2 garlic heads

• 8-10 large tomatoes

• 2 bell peppers (orange or red)

• 2 tbsp tomato paste

• Paprika

• Oregano

• Fresh basil

• Chicken or vegetable broth

• Optional: a little sugar & Worcestershire

How to make it:

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF

2. Cut into quarters your tomatoes, bell peppers, and one of the onions and chop the “head” off of your garlic.

3. Add everything to a baking sheet, toss in olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika and oregano (add extra olive oil to the garlic)

4. Roast in the oven until softened (about 45 min)

5. While the veggies roast, dice the other onion, a shallot and 5 cloves of garlic 

6. In a big pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Sauté onions in til soft and add in the garlic.

7. Add salt, pepper and tomato paste and caramelize for a couple minutes.

8. Add 1/2 cup chicken stock and scrape any burnt bits off the bottom of the pot.

9. Add your roasted veggies to the pot, fresh basil, and about a cup more of chicken stock. (Make sure you squeeze your roasted garlic out of its “skin”)

10. Add a spoon of sugar and a dash of Worcestershire.

11. Blend with immersion blender and simmer for 20ish minutes or while you make grilled cheese.

For sandwiches (this may not need an explanation but I’ll add one anyway) 

1. Set stove to medium low heat.

2. Spread garlic butter or mayo on both sides of your bread. Add cheese, bacon, and whatever else you like and close the sandwich.

3. Add a tablespoon of both butter and olive oil to the heated pan and start toasting your sandwich.

   Tips: Put a lid on the pan to melt the cheese faster, weigh down the top of the sandwich with a grill press or something heavy to flatten and more evenly toast the sandwich, and add more butter and/or olive oil in between sandwiches.