FĕDish: what rainy days are made for

A weeks ago, it was gross and rainy and I started getting grilled cheese and tomato soup on my mind. Then, the sky cleared and the temperatures rose and I was over it. This weekend, however, the bad weather is back! So Sanne and I planned on having a gourmet grilled cheese party! Unfortunately, we slacked on inviting people. But two's a party, right?

I did some hunting this week and found a few winners on bon appetit and soule mama, and were inspired by our fresh picked apples we got from Tougas Farm. We also met this guy:

So, that's pretty good I guess.

We started with the soup. Sanne put the tomatoes (4lbs, about 5 large tomatoes) in boiling water, just long enough for them to loosen up and take their skins off.

Meanwhile, I chopped 5 carrots, most of a medium yellow onion and 2 celery stalks. The Holy Soupfecta.

The tomatoes were then stripped down to their skivvies, drizzled with olive oil, s+p and roasted for 30 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

About halfway through, I heated 2T butter, 3 cloves chopped garlic in a large pot, and cooked the onions, carrots and celery until tender, about 15-20 minutes.

Then, add the tomatoes and stock, and simmer for another 15 minutes.

Puree the soup. This is my favorite part!

Then stir in 1/3c chopped (ribboned) basil and 3/4c heavy cream.

We tasted the soup at this point and both agreed that it was missing something. I thought it was a little too vegetable-y and needed more dairy, so Sanne added some salt and a couple tablespoons of butter. After a little simmer time we tasted it again and it was much better. Time is an important factor with soup as well. The longer it sits, the more the flavors come together and the better it tastes.

Sanne and I each chose a grilled cheese and a matching beer. My sandwich was pecorino and fontina with sage butter on borodinsky rye. I found the recipe on bonappetit.com. I feel like I don't really need to give you recipes for these. But you should know that for the sage butter, melt 3/4 a stick of butter in a saucepan. Pour half of it into a bowl. To the other half, stir in 2 1/2t chopped sage. This you will brush onto the top of each sandwich before you grill them. I poured the rest of the butter in the grill pan to cook the sandwich in.

Sanne made apple, brown sugar ham and vermont cheddar on honey wheat with dijon mustard. Our sandwiches were very different and balanced each other nicely.

I don't know that I could choose a favorite, they were both so good. The sage butter sandwich was very different, which was nice. And it was really tasty dipped in soup.