Cloudy and 55 degrees?!

It's definitely a soup day. How about a feel good tomato soup and grilled cheese?

While there is the time old classic Campbell's Tomato Soup that you open with a can opener and rinse out the tomato mush with water to add to the condensed meal (Despite all of this I still enjoy eating it with a pile of cheddar cheese and fresh ground pepper.)....

America's Test Kitchen (who publishes Cook's Illustrated) made a 30 minute meal cook book! In my book, their recipes are always perfect, but they require the finest ingredients (which usually equates to most expensive), the most time, and sometimes even fancy kitchen equipment that I haven't acquired yet.

I was shocked when I found out they had condescended to the 30 minute crowd. (Don't get me wrong, Rachel has a lot of great recipes that my family eats all the time and I appreciate her. I just can't stand watching her show.) The shock faded when I read the introduction's disclaimer that truly good food should take longer than 30 minutes to prepare, but the test kitchen has created some forgivable short cuts.

Anyway, Thanks to America's Test Kitchen you can have REALLY good tomato soup in less than 30 minutes. Here's how.

Cream of Tomato Soup
3- 14 oz. cans diced tomatoes
3 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves
2 TBLS unsalted butter
1 onion, minced
1 TBLS light brown sugar
1 TBLS tomato paste
Salt
2 TBLS all-purpose flour
½ cup heavy cream
2 tsp dry sherry
Pinch of cayenne

1. HEAT BROTH MIXTURE: Drain tomatoes, reserving juice. Add broth to reserved tomato juice to measure 5 cups (if necessary, add water). Bring broth mixture and bay leave to boil, covered, in large saucepan and set aside.
2. SAUTE TOMATO MIXTURE: Meanwhile, melt butter in large Dutch oven over high heat. Add drained tomatoes, onion, brown sugar, tomato paste, and ½ tsp salt, and cook until tomatoes are dry and beginning to brown, 11 to 13 minutes. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute.
3. ADD BROTH MIXTURE: Slowly stir in broth mixture. Bring to simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Remove bay leaves.
4. PUREE FINISH AND SEASON: Puree soup in batches in blender until smooth. Return pureed soup to pot and stir in cream and sugar. Return to brief simmer, then remove from heat. Season with salt and cayenne to taste.

Don't forget about the grilled cheese. I can really go either way on grilled cheese. There's the whitest of white bread, with "cheese" that comes wrapped in square shaped plastic, and of course all sides of the bread buttered for grilling. Then there is the good crusty bread, with good cheese (sharp cheddar, gruyere, or gouda are my favorites), drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper for grilling. Really, either one is delicious to me.