Encore – Tomato Bisque and Toasted Cheese Sandwiches

It is finally Fall and this is one of our favorite comfort food meals for this time of year when the weather turns cooler, so we thought it bears repeating 🙂

When food can be considered simple enough to be comfort food and be sophisticated enough to be served at smart cocktail parties, it isn’t hard to understand why we would want to share it with you. Tomato Bisque and Toasted Cheese Squares are really dressed up names for tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

When I was in college I spent a summer in England, mostly in the north in a little town called Burrough-in-Furness. There was a little sandwich shop that made the best cheese sandwiches I had ever tasted. They were a cousin of the grilled cheese sandwich I was used to from home, but MUCH better because they were not grilled in a pan but toasted in the oven.

Sometimes when I cook a grilled cheese in a frying pan on top of the stove, or on a griddle, I find that often the bread becomes too brown before the cheese melts thoroughly. If I try and cook it on a really low flame so the cheese has a chance to melt, the bread gets soggy. Toasting the sandwiches in the oven allows the bread to get really buttery and crisp and the cheese melts evenly and oozes out the sides. When I came home I started making these sandwiches straight away, to everyone’s delight…buttery bread and a good melted cheddar…how yummy!

When we are serving this as a family supper, the soup can be served in a regular soup bowl with the sandwiches on the side to be dipped in the soup. When we serve them as an appetizer we cut the sandwiches in squares and pile them on a platter, and serve the soup from a tureen in small punch cups or little espresso cups so it can be enjoyed straight from the cup, with no spoon necessary.

Whether you eat them for a simple Sunday evening supper or serve them at your next cocktail party buffet, you can’t go wrong and you will definitely feel warmed inside and out…..we always do.

Tomato Bisque

1 29 oz can of tomato puree
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
2 Tablespoons butter
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper

Melt butter in a saucepan and add garlic. Saute until lightly browned. Add chicken broth, cream and tomato puree and stir well. Add crushed oregano*, thyme, salt and pepper and continue cooking on a medium flame for about 5 minutes or just until soup begins to bubble around the edges. Do not allow soup to boil. Reduce heat to low and keep warm until ready to serve.

*(To crush oregano, rub dried oregano leaves between the palms of your hands and then drop into soup. Rubbing the oregano between your palms releases the oils in the oregano and increases the flavor.)

Toasted Cheese Sandwiches

White sandwich bread
Good quality extra sharp cheddar cheese (or your favorite cheese)
Butter

For each sandwich use two pieces of bread. Spread butter liberally over the outsides of both pieces of bread. Place one slice of bread, buttered side down, on a baking sheet. Slice the cheese and place on the bread and top with the second slice of buttered bread.

Bake in a 425 degree oven until the bread begins to brown. Flip sandwich and continue cooking until second side is toasty brown. Cheese will ooze slightly from the sides of the sandwich. Allow to sit for a minute before slicing and eating…if you can wait…yum!