grilled cheese puree. sweet one hundred tomatoes. crispy soft crouton.
this dish is literally what it says it is... the idea came obviously from tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich... reversed for the hell of it... also i am not as big of fan of hot tomatoes as much as i am room temp ones so this capitalizes on the natural flavor of the tomato rather than cooking it down and pureeing into a soup... this would be a fun dish to make for kids too you could easily thin out the puree and make it in to a soup all i ask is use good cheese and dont put your tomatoes in the fridge since it kills their natural sugars and kills their flavor...
grilled cheese puree
4 slices of good white bread
fontina cheese or gruyere (grated helps it melt more evenly and quicker) (just something not too hard as it wont melt properly nor give you the texture)
unsalted butter - be generous (always buy unsalted its the freshest)
salt tt
milk (to cover)
literally make a grilled cheese.. put your butter in the pan and throw a little salt in the pan to season the butter (enough butter too make you blush maybe 2 Tbs and if 2 Tbs doesnt make you blush then add more til you do). just as its it slightly starting to smell nutty take pan off the heat and add in your sandwich, bring back to heat which should be about medium not too hot as you dont want to burn the butter but not too cool to where its not cooking or gaining color.
once your grilled cheese is cooked let cool for a second and cut up into smaller pieces. cover with milk and put on heat once heated through (do not boil just enough heat to keep it warm) let sit for about 10 min to soften up and put into blender blend on high... adjust seasoning... put through fine strainer (chinois) reserve til you need it...
sweet 100 tomatoes (just a type of tomato if you cant find them whatever you have access to dont worry its not goign to make or break the dish)
pepper- be generous this will give the dish that extra pop
salt - tt
cut your tomatoes lay them all out individually and season individually so your tomatoes all taste more than what they are (which means if you have great tomatoes they are going to be ridiculously great when you add your salt and pepper)
crispy soft crouton
take the same type of bread you made your grilled cheese with and brown only one side using the same technique as your grilled cheese minus the cheese, by only toasting one side you are getting two textures out of one piece of bread, crunchy and chewy too textures that play really well together.
final plate up...
the picture is pretty self explanatory i know but in case anyone is unsure.. warm the puree loosening with water if needed, give a nice smear on the plate and scatter your tomatoes finish with your croutons. like i said before you could thin it out even more for a soup and put in small tomatoes whole or cut up whatever and add fresh herbs, shoot use this as a base for a sauce for a chicken (or in my case rabbit) dish. anyways have fun with it, not that this is some genius idea just something fun for the kids, other people start after school clubs or mentor kids, i make grilled cheese soup....
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