Homemade Cream of Tomato Soup with Spiced-up Grilled Cheese Sandwiches - Bon Appetit via Karen

For the soup: Quarter 2lb. of tomatoes, place in an oven proof pan along with 2 carrots, 1 rib of celery and 2 cloves of garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 400 degrees for about 45 min. Remove the skins from the tomatoes. In the same pan, saute a chopped small onion. Return the tomatoes to the pan and stir in 3T flour. Add 2T tomato paste and 2C stock. Stir the mixture while bringing it to the boil. Transfer the mix to a food processor; add 1t dry thyme, and 2T fresh chopped basil and process to the desired consistancy. We prefer the soup to be chunky rather than smooth. Add a bay leaf and simmer over low heat while you prepare the sandwiches.

For the sandwiches: Prepare a mix of 1/2t chipotla pepper in adobo sauce with 4T tomato paste. Butter the outside of 4 slices of sourdough. Spread the inside of slices of the sourdough bread with the tomato paste mixture. Layer on sharp chedder cheese, thinly sliced red onion and sliced tomatoes. Garnish with fresh basil. Grill the sandwiches until golden.

Just before serving stir 3/4C cream into the soup and remove the bay leaf.

A nice light winter supper.