WIP but nearly there.

A beloved. Made simple here.

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Ingredients

• Veggie broth (or chicken broth, but then no longer vegetarian)
• Tomatoes (fresh on the vine or can) – I'd just choose one or the other rather than mix
• Onion type (shallot or white)
• Garlic
• Carrot
• Basil for serving, personally
• A lil sugar
• Salt
• Cheddar cheese (sharp, if ya can find)
  • Feel free to swap for another
  • I buy a block, and slice it thinly when I want some with a knife

Optional: some folx thicken it with arrowroot or cornstarch. Arrowroot is known as a healthier thickener.

Directions

Chop onion and carrot into equal small pieces. Heat up a pot on low-medium heat and cook til transparent but not til brown. Once it lightens (becomes transparent), throw in chopped garlic and cook for a little (1 min), then throw in tomatoes plus broth. Bring all of it to a boil. Once it’s boiling, bring to a simmer, cook for ~10 minutes til tomatoes have disintegrated a bit into a nice mush. Remove from heat or turn it off, and blend the whole thing. I use my regular blender and transfer it from pot to blender, others might use an immersion blender and blend in the pot. Blend til it’s a puree. Careful with heat pressure build up if using a closed (lidded) blender. Once pureed, transfer back to pot. Bring to simmer, add a little (teaspoon) of sugar to help cut acidity of tomato.

Usually, around the time I’ve added the tomatoes to the pot initially, I start on the grilled cheese so that it’s all ready at the same time. If you have other contraptions (like a panini press or toaster, then change accordingly) but I use a stovetop and the cast iron and it comes out perfectly.

Grilled cheese

Understood on the word grilled, but it’s totes possible on a stovetop ok!?

Slice your cheese thinly. Butter the pan, and once the pan is starting to heat up, add in bread and lather the bread in the butter on both sides. Let the bread begin to heat up before adding cheese. Once one side begins to get just the slightest bit hot, flip both breads and place the thin slices of cheese on one of them, leaving the other blank. Typically, if both slices of bread are pretty hot, you can now place the non-cheese side on top, so that the cheese begins to melt a bit. The heat of the pan will take care of the rest. Let it sit for a while, and then eventually flip the entire sandwich.

Finish it off

Don’t worry too much about over-simmering the soup once its come back from the blender, as long as its low heat. The flavors will fuse a bit more til you’re ready to serve. Otherwise…it’s ready to eat! Time this alongside the grilled cheese process above, and toast the bread to your preference. Pour soup into bowls and serve together.