Tomato / Spinach / Parmesan Soup

With grilled cheese, OBVIOUSLY.

If you have an immersion blender (and you should), this is one of the quickest, easiest meals you could possibly whip up. I often have all of the ingredients on hand, too.

Roughly chop some onion and garlic, throw it in a pot with some other stuff, immersion blend it, and mix in milk and cheese. The accompanying grilled cheese is generally Jess's job, and I can make the soup from start to finish faster than he can assembly the grilled cheeses and melt them in the panini press.

Stuff thrown into a pot.

Stuff thrown into a pot, blended.

It also works with goat cheese in place of the parmesan if you like your tomato soup creamier. But I like the nutty bite of the parmesan. It goes really well with the basil and spinach.

The Recipe:

1 tb olive oil

1 onion, roughly chopped

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 bunch spinach leaves

28 oz tomatoes, pureed

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp dried basil (or 1/4 c fresh basil leaves)

1 1/2 c milk (I use 2%)

3 tb parmesan cheese, grated

salt and pepper, to taste

Saute onion in olive oil over medium-high heat until softened
Add garlic, saute 1 more minute
Add spinach, tomatoes, sugar, basil, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium heat until spinach is wilted.
Blend with immersion blender until desired consistency.
Turn off heat and mix in milk and parmesan cheese. Heat over medium-low if necessary to warm the milk through.
Serve with additional parmesan cheese on top and grilled cheese for dipping.

The Verdict:

Overall grade: A+

Overall reason: Ridiculously easy for something so delicious.

Time to prepare: 10 minutes

Husband quote: "Mmm, grilled cheese." (But he seems to like the soup, too.)

Comments

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