Tomato & Chickpea Soup with Mini Grilled Cheese Bites
I love tomato soup, and what I love even more is dunking crispy and melted grilled cheese bites into my soup. I mean what's not to love about it? It's so fun! We haven't done any classic tomato soup with grilled cheese dunkers this year, and as soup season comes to end it's got to happen! So I bring to you my new favorite thing - mini-grilled cheese. Small little grilled cheese bites made with way less butter and way less calories (praise!), but still all the crunchiness that's perfect to soak up a creamy tomato soup. Use a petite baguette as the base, thinly sliced to whip up little baby grilled cheese bites, and then load it up with the best cheese and even some veg. That's exactly what I did for our week night, pre bowling fuel - Tomato & Chickpea Soup with Mini Grilled Cheese Bites.
The soup is creamy, smooth, and delightful bite after bite. There are two essentials to really good tomato soup, and this bad boy has both. First - fresh tomatoes. The base is fresh on the vine tomatoes, roasted and slightly charred in the oven before becoming soup. & using fresh tomatoes instead of canned is the key to real deal tomato soup.
The next key element is an immersion blender. Literally my most kitchen tool and the best wedding present received. I effing love this thing - it is so fun and so effective in pureeing anything to velvety perfection. I mean - you can use a regular blender but just saying, immersion blending is where it's at.
Obviously this tomato soup is a little different because chickpeas - not the most conventional. But they pair so perfectly with soup and get so soft as they cook that they blend perfectly with the tomatoes to elicit a smooth and creamy base. They add just a little bit of texture, but nothing bulky. I reserve only a small amount of chickpeas to remain in the soup as is so every so often you get a little bit of something as you eat the soup. In the end , with chickpeas and all, the soup is light and velvety, and gets a fun little tang by stirring in just a dollop of sour cream.
Moreover, the grilled cheeses are the fun surprise of the whole thing. & a step up from just a piece of crusty bread. I will say that I love sauteed brussels with just about anything. Literally the best vegetable in a bruschetta or quesadilla, or really anything that involves pairing it with melted cheese. So putting it in a mini grilled cheese is like genius. The brussels aren't totally smothered with cheese in these veggie filled mini grilled cheesies. More like equal parts brussels and cheese, and it's perfect.
For the Soup
4 tbsp EVOO
3 large tomatoes or 4 smaller tomatoes (I used on the vine tomatoes, but really any variety will work)
3 garlic cloves
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
pinch of cinnamon
4 c. chicken broth
2 cans of chickpeas, drained
Salt & pepper
1 tbsp of sour cream
Pinch of parmesan for garnish
About 2 tbsp fresh basil, thinly sliced
For the Mini Grilled Cheese
1 demi baguette
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 c. shredded brussel sprouts, sauteed until soft with salt and pepper
1 tbsp butter
Start by prepping the tomatoes for the soup. Slice the tomatoes in half and place them face up on a parchment lined baking sheet. Drizzle them with 2 tbsp of the olive oil and place in a 450 degree oven. Let the tomatoes roast for 1 hour. Once the tomatoes have finished cooking, remove them from the oven and start making the soup.
Place your dutch oven over medium heat, and add in the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add in the chopped onion and clove of garlic (it's totally fine to add the garlic cloves in whole). Let the garlic and onion cook for about 7 minutes. Next add in the roasted tomatoes and all of the spices, including a generous pinch of both salt and pepper, and let the soup cook another 5 minutes. Pour in the chicken broth and all of chickpeas. Increase the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil. As soon as the soup is boiling, reduce the temperature back down to medium, cover the pot, and let the soup cook for 45 minutes. This will get the chickpeas all softened up and ready to eat.
After the soup has been going for 45 minutes, uncover the soup and turn off the heat. Using a ladle, scoop out about 1 cup of the chickpeas, straining so that you aren't scooping out any of the liquid. This part if kind of tricky, and it's totally fine if you get a couple onions in the mix too. Again, just avoid scooping out any tomato chunks or liquid. Once the chickpeas have been scooped out and set aside, use an immersion blender (or conventional blender) to puree the soup. Be generous and patient with this to get your soup sillky smooth - I blended mine for about 8 minutes. Once the blending has been done, place the pot of soup back over low heat and stir in the reserved chickpeas and the sour cream. Place the soup back over low heat as you prep the grilled cheese.
Using a demi-baguette (or small baguette), thinly slice the bread so each piece is no more than a half inch thick, getting 10 total slices. Spray a large nonstick skillet with a bit of cooking spray, or use a tbsp of butter, and place the skillet over medium heat. Place half of the bread in the skillet, topping it first with a pinch of sprouts and then with a pinch of cheese (about 1 tbsp of cheese). Cover the skillet and let it melt for 4-5 minutes, but watch the sandwiches carefully to ensure nothing burns. Then uncover, top with the remaining bread slices, and then flip to toast for another 4-5 minutes.
