Rainy days and soup

The weather we've been having these past few days has been glorious: cloudy, stormy, drizzly, thunderstorms, windy. This kind of weather is my soul food. I've made it a sort of tradition to take Shye out whenever it rains. We get some strange looks from our neighbors but really it's just water, right?

To celebrate all this lovely weather we made soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. This tomato soup is different from the tomato-basil one I posted about last fall, this one has a stronger flavor thanks to the blue cheese in it.  It was delicious!

Tomato and Blue Cheese soup
3lb ripe tomatoes, quartered (Roma is our favorite)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 leek, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 1/4 quarts of chicken stock
4 ounces of blue cheese, crumbled
3 tablespoons of heavy cream
several sprigs of fresh basil (optional, this is a garnish)
1 cup of cooked and crumbled bacon (optional, to garnish)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1.) Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread tomatoes in a shallow baking dish. Sprinkle the minced garlic over the tomatoes. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over the tomatoes. Place in the oven and roast for 35 minutes.

2.) Heat oil in a large pot. Add leeks and carrot and a dash of salt and pepper. Cook over a low heat, stirring often, for about 10 minutes, until soft.

3.) Stir in chicken stock and roasted tomatoes. Bring to boil. Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

4.) Add blue cheese and cream. Transfer to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth, working in batches if necessary.

5.) Return soup to pot and reheat, but do not boil. Salt and pepper to taste.

6.) Ladle soup into serving bowls and garnish with crumbled bacon and a fresh sprig of basil

For our grilled cheese sandwiches we bought sourdough and french bread, a few different cheeses (gouda, asiago, and cheddar), arugula, and bacon. We all just made our own creations. Mine was french bread with gouda and arugula. SO good!

And then we all collapsed happily into a food coma for the rest of the afternoon.