Its Friday It Must Be Soup! March 16 Yellow Tomato Soup w Griller Croutons

The Kid loves to dip grilled cheese sandwiches into tomato soup and then, last year, Dianne made tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches cut up like croutons and served right in the soup. I made it one night and he had three bowls of soup with the equivalent of two big sandwiches and I knew a star was born.

These little yellow cherry tomatoes were on sale at the supermarket this morning and they would also give me an opportunity to use the canned yellow tomatoes from PC's Black Label line that I have been eyeing forever. It was a nice change from our usual tomato soup and I love the colour. It's all warm and sunny and cheerful and the harvati grilled cheese provides a really mellow flavour. I almost used a sharp cheddar but the taste of the yellow tomatoes seemed to be a bit more delicate than a red tomato. Of course, that could be all in my mind because the yellow tomatoes certainly look milder and softer. Regardless, I decided on harvati with a dense german bread and it was perfect.

Yellow Tomato Soup with Griller Croutons

1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1 pint yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
1 398ml or 14 fl oz can yellow tomatoes
fresh thyme
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup evaporated milk


Croutons
roggenbrot or any other dense, dark german bread
sliced harvarti
butter

Heat the olive oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat and sauté the onion and garlic for a few minutes until softened but not browning at all. Add the chopped yellow tomatoes, some salt and the thyme and cook down, on medium heat, until the tomatoes start to melt away. I just throw the thyme in on the stalks because they leaves fall off as it's cooking and then I just fish out the stems but you can remove the leaves from the stems right from the get go if you like.
 Add the canned tomatoes and chicken stock at this point and cook for another 15 minutes. If you want the soup really smooth, you can puree it at this point or even run it through a food mill to get rid of any skin or seeds. I don't mind that stuff so just giving it a whiz with an immersion blender is enough for me. Don't forget to remove the thyme stalks first.
Add the evaporated milk, taste and season with salt and pepper to taste. If your tomatoes were particularly acidic, you might want to add a little pinch of sugar but I find that once I add some milk or cream that this becomes unnecessary but it's up to you.

Make the grilled cheese as you normally would. Butter the outsides of two pieces of bread, put cheese in the middle (not too much or the sandwich croutons won't stay together when you cut them up) and cook over medium heat in a frying pan, or use a panini press if you like. After the sandwich is cooked, remove it to a cutting board and let it sit for a few minutes to cool down slightly. If you try to cut it up when it's piping hot, the cheese is too oozy and slippery and it won't hold it's shape.

Put the soup in a bowl and add a handful of grilled cheese squares and serve.