Roasted Tomato and Garlic Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

Scarlett really wanted this post to be about broccoli soup. She wanted nothing to do with my explanation that we already have a few great ones on the site. It’s her favorite and she thinks she runs the joint with Esme. All I wanted for this post was that it included grilled cheese. It’s a bit of a thing around our household. It’s one (read: only) of my husbands specialty dishes. Whenever we’re at a loss for supper, I can always count on my husband to whip up a round of outrageously delicious grilled cheese sandwiches. He never disappoints. The bread is always a perfect, golden brown and the cheese is, without fail, served in its gooiest state. The sandwiches are never too greasy and the crust can’t disappoint with its shattering crunch. In fact, he’s so talented with this seemingly easy dish that I generally crumble under the pressure when left in charge of the frying pan. He’ll mock me with a saucy laugh when I overcook the bread. (I said overcook not burn, all right!) You’ll actually get to see Dan and Scarlett in all their grilled cheese glory in a few weeks when Ceri and I let the Dad’s run the site. (Just remember, we’re letting them ‘think’ they’re running the site. It works out nicely that way.)

Whenever we butter up a pan for grilled cheese it’s usually pretty standard for us to want tomato soup with it. This soup marries our love of the tomato/grilled cheese marriage and my need to throw garlic into any dish. In fact, when I make this dish I often don’t follow my own advice and just stick to 6 cloves of garlic. I think it’s my father in me. He’s an Italian who believes you can never have enough garlic. In this instance, I definitely agree.

8

Don’t even bother counting the garlic in this pan. I tried to hide some of it. Actually, I sometimes just fish it out so I have some roasted garlic for bread. This is also a half serving of the recipe. I sometimes make smaller batches when I’m looking for a quick hit of soup.

I’ve started to let Scarlett manage small projects in the kitchen that go beyond mixing and stirring. On this occasion, I let her make the roux. I know. You think I”m totally crazy–such a delicate thing. However, she did a great job with it. It was actually me who screwed up something on this day. I’m only telling you because, well, I’m not sure. I think I was just rushing. I over stuffed my food processor and, needless to say, Scarlett and I looked pretty foolish with tomato soup on us. We actually thought it was pretty funny and had a great chuckle over it. Dan didn’t. He had to clean it up. But, what’s the big deal, he’s in charge anyway. Wink.