Creamy Tomato Soup w/ Blue Cheese

Here we go again.  Or I.  But I like to think we are in this together.  Since we are.  So, it is a total we situation.

Back to my normal…which, minus all the laundry and dishes and bill paying…kinda sorta rocks.  Buuuuttt, no matter what you are returning to, coming back from vacation can be difficult…so difficult, that it would have just been easier to stay on vacation – ha!  We all wish, right?!?

Let us get back to talking about food.  It takes my mind off that whole laundry sit, which is totally cool with me.

No matter what the weather is outside your window….sometimes your food choices just don’t match.

Ice cream in January.  Pumpkin pie in July.  Grilled peaches in December.  Hot soup in June.  Anyone with me?  Yeah, I figured that much…we can be weird together!  What weird things do you crave out of season?  Right now (and most summers) it is soup.

Lately, my craving for tomato soup has been Out. Of.  This.  World.  Completely, and totally.  I have gone to restaurants known for their monster grilled cheese sandwiches (i.e. Melt for my fellow Clevelanders) hoping the Soup du Jour would be tomato…because it is awesome.  Trust me friends.  It is.  It wasn’t on their menu last time…talk about a total let down (upside?  a fried egg on my burger, so we made up rather quickly).  After this outing, my need for tomato soup increased 7.6 fold.  I was on the hunt.  Officially.  I had hopes, high hopes, for the hospital’s cafeteria.  Daily, I scoped out the soup options.  I talked about it from when I got to work ( ahem, at 6:30am) until I could wander/escape down there.  It got to the point that my lovely coworkers started to report back to me the soup possibilities, if they found themselves down there before me.  I even got one to call the cafeteria for me…newbies.  Gotta love ’em!

All of this effort and nothing, people.  Zero tomato soup.  I was on the verge of buying a can of Campbell’s and calling it a day, but I found myself with a bit of time and a few cans of San Marzano Tomatoes…and within no time I had a pot of tomato soup simmering away on my stove and a bit of sweat forming on my brow…Gross.  The sweat not the soup.  Tip of the day…turn on a/c if making soup in the middle of the summer.  Unless you love sweaty brows.  Which, more power to ya.  I think.  I don’t know.  Sweaty brow or no sweaty brow…just make the soup.  Be it December or June.

Oh! and definitely, and I mean definitely, add some cheese.  I prefer blue cheese, but not a blue cheese fan?  Totally OK, just add another crumbly cheese.  I bet feta would be crazy good or goat cheese?  Life is better with cheese, as is soup.

Creamy Tomato Soup w/ Blue Cheese

Adapted from Michael Symon

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Medium Yellow Onion, diced
4 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 – 28 Ounce Can of San Marzano Tomatoes, with juices (dont’ have/can’t find San Marzano – use what you can find – but splurge on San Marzano if possible!)
1 – 14 Ounce Can Chicken Stock
1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
2 Teaspoons to 2 Tablespoons Sriracha Sauce (depends on how spicy you prefer)
Salt to taste (about 1 teaspoon total)
3/4 Cup Half + Half
1/2 Cup Blue Cheese, plus extra for garnish

 

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add onions and a pinch of salt and sweat for a few minutes.  Add garlic and continue to sweat for an additional few minutes, until onion and garlic start to become translucent.  Add tomatoes, stock, and oregano and bring to a simmer.  ( taste and add salt here if needed)  Stir in half and half and sriracha sauce and continue to simmer for an additional 30 to 40 minutes.

Transfer soup along with blue cheese to a blender, working in batches if needed.  Blend until smooth or desired consistency.  I like mine a bit chunky, but to each their own.  Pour back into original pot and taste – add extra salt or sriracha if needed.

Serve once soup is reheated.  Top with blue cheese and enjoy.