I was tossing around the idea of using last nights dinner as part of my culinary bucket list but decided against it. Why? Well, mostly because I have made tomato soup and grill cheese before so it’s technically not anything I have never made before. PLUS…this was just a recipe I found online and not anything I “have always wanted to make” but I HAD to try it.
http://www.thelondoner.me/2014/01/pesto-grilled-cheese-with-roasted-tomato-soup.html
Whatever…this..I promise you..is oh so tasty!
Pre-heat the oven to 375 F
I placed 14 small/medium”ish” tomatoes (on the vine) onto a baking sheet.
** 14 of these tomatoes was entirely too many for just three people — we will be eating tomato soup, every day for ten days ** 🙂
Plopped them in the oven, set the timer for 45 minutes, grabbed the daughter and went for a little jog around the neighborhood. We were going to take the dogs but that is just wayyyy too much work. I do feel bad for leaving them home with the oven and the oven vent fan running..poor dogs are absolutely PETRIFIED of kitchen noises. SORRY dupper dawgs! 😉
Once the jog was out of the way, I got back to business. The tomato’s were still roasting in the oven so I started in on the pesto sauce.
I grabbed a handful and a half of pine nuts and placed them and dry roasted them in a frying pan.
I think I roasted them a little bit too long…they look burnt don’t they? This is what happens when I get sidetracked. Things burn. I did, I walked away from the stove for a little too long. Once they were chopped up though…we could not taste that they had been cooked for too long.
In the food processor, I put a batch of fresh basil, four garlic cloves, a handful of fresh grated Parmesan cheese and poured some olive oil. Sorry, I did not take any measurements, I just used my eyes as a judge….and then ma mouth 😉
WHY…have I NEVER…made this before???? I don’t usually use pesto too often so I have always just bought, either, a jar or made from a packet. Ridiculous..this is SO easy and SO delicious. I think fresh pesto might just be my new favorite thing.
By the time the pesto was done, the tomato’s were done! I took them from the oven, peeled the dried up skin from some of them and ate some of the others 🙂
Plopped the maters into the blender along with three cups of chicken broth, a handful of basil, about two teaspoons of paprika, some freshly ground pepper..blended for a bit on low and high and then low again and then dumped it all into a big ole pot and warmed it up.
While the soup was warming, I buttered one side of two pieces of bread – I used cracked wheat – next time I will use sourdough. The cracked wheat is good but it was a little too sweet in then end.
So, butter on one side and pesto spread on the other..
Slice up some yummy Gouda cheese and place on the pesto side – butter side down on the frying pan. Cook on medium for about two minutes per side.
SOOOOO GOOD!
Bon Appetit!
kristilynk 