Comfort Soups for Cold Relief | Vegan Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

When I was home sick as a kid, my Maman would bring me grilled cheese and tomato soup in bed. Now that I don’t have anyone to bring me soup and grilled cheese in bed, I have to fend for myself. The instant I feel a cold coming on, I get into the kitchen and brew up some hot liquid to soothe my stuffy nose, my throat and my soul. I find myself in grief and with a cold, possibly Covid-19, so I am on a soup-making mission.

While, like my Maman, I don’t typically use a recipe, I am going to attempt to give you enough guidance to copy my concoctions for yourself. I don’t use broth, but of course you may use it instead of water. I prefer the simplest, purest form of soup and that means all fresh ingredients with nothing packaged save for the spices. I use organic when possible, and always fresh tomatoes instead of canned. Making delicious soup is easier than you imagined!

I use thyme in this recipe due to its healing properties. I will leave it to you to go to google for your choice of sources, but suffice it to say thyme is considered to help with cold symptoms, so have at it!

Whether or not you have a cold, these soups are soothing and delicious. I hope you enjoy!

Vegan Tomato Soup + Grilled Cheese

2-4 lbs heirloom tomatoes
1-2 lbs shallots and onions (possible to use all onion or all shallot, but a mixture deepens the flavor texture)
4-6 cloves of garlic (more if you like)
5-10 fresh sprigs of thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried)
Paprika, cayenne or other red pepper for flavor and heat
Redmond’s RealSalt

For the sandwich:
Your choice of bread, this recipe calls for Ezekiel bread
Your choice of vegan cheese, this recipe calls for Violife, I used the mozzarella-like shreds

Prep if you have time:
Thinly slice all shallots, onions and rough chop garlic and place in bowl together. Dice tomatoes. Gather and measure your spices. Get the blender/food processor out and ready for action.

1. Thinly slice onions and shallots. Heat saucepan to medium with your choice of oil- olive oil or avocado oil are preferred— and place all allium in the pan. (Onions, shallots and garlic). Cook for 10-15 minutes until some of the onions are crispy and the garlic is golden. Monitor the heat and make sure you’re getting a nice glaze but not burning the alliums.

2. Add your spices. You can add thyme (dried or fresh. For dried add about 1/2 tsp. For fresh, add several sprigs. You can leave the sprigs intact or if you have time remove leaves from 5-6 sprigs), paprika (smoked or regular), cayenne for spice, fresh parsley (I use about a handful of fresh, chopped). Stir in and allow any powdered spices to stick to the bottom of the pan and the alliums.

3. Dice the tomatoes and add to the saucepan, sprinkle with salt. I prefer Redmond’s RealSalt. Turn the heat to high to get a sizzle then lower back to medium-low heat. You’ll want to cook the tomatoes until they are unrecognizable and have completely fallen apart.

4. Add water to the mixture. Just enough to add volume but not make the soup too watery. Now you can add more salt as well. Bring to boil for one minute then reduce to a simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, longer if you like. In the simmer, I remove the lid if the mixture seems too watery so it can reduce.

5. Pick out the time sprigs and remove any remaining leaves and place back into the soup. You can also add a few more fresh leaves at this time.

6. Pour the soup into your blender or food processor, don’t fill all the way and make sure you have a pressure release open since the soup is hot. Blend for a couple of minutes until smooth. There may be some remaining pieces of tomato skin and herbs, but that’s ok. You can keep blending if you would like it to be smoother.

7. Once blended, add back to saucepan. At this point, you can add water to increase the volume and make the soup more liquid, or continue to reduce by simmering without a lid. Add fresh ground pepper. Taste for salt. Soup is ready to eat!

8. Heat your griddle. Toast the inside of the sandwich bread until crispy, then add cheese to the crispy side and make the sandwich. Griddle each side until golden and the cheese is melting, then cut into triangles for full effect.

9. Enjoy!

   
   I hope you enjoy the soup. It’s a very simple, completely scratch made soup that delivers the cold fighting punch of thyme. Until next time, namaste!

~Tonya