Recipe developed and contributed by Maureen Gualtieri
After a cold morning spent sledding, or (ugh, if you’re a grown-up) shoveling your driveway, nothing beats a nostalgic lunch of a fresh grilled cheese dipped in piping hot tomato soup. This classic pair gets the DFC treatment with the addition of two of our condiments. Choose your fave DFC mustard to go with the creamy crunchy grilled cheese, and add DFC’s Subtly Sweet & Tangy Not Just BBQ Sauce to the tomato soup for a hit of tart umami. The combo is heavenly – way better than the canned Campbell’s and Kraft slices of our childhoods. Sometimes, snowy driveways aside, it pays to be a grownup!
Wild Card Mustard Grilled Cheese and Souped-Up Tomato Soup
(Yield: 1 sandwich, 8 servings of soup)
For the grilled cheese
Two slices of your favourite bread
1 1/ 4 c of your favourite cheese, grated
2 tsp of your favourite DFC mustard
2 tbsp olive oil
For the soup
2 tbsp olive oil
1 746 ml can of diced tomatoes
1 540 ml can of cannellini beans or other white beans
1 small white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
6 c vegetable stock
1 roasted red pepper, diced
2 leaves of Swiss chard, cut into a chiffonade
1/ 4 c DFC’s Subtly Sweet & Tangy Not Just BBQ Sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Locate a large pot and place it on a burner set to medium heat. Add the olive oil, and, once that begins to shimmer, the onion and garlic. Saute the onion and garlic mixture until it just begins to gain colour. Then add the diced tomatoes, beans, roasted red pepper, and vegetable stock, and stir well. Raise the heat until the soup begins to boil, then drop again to a simmer and leave it there for 20 minutes.
With the soup on the literal back burner, grab a frying pan and heat it on medium in preparation for your grilled cheese. On a plate or board, butterfly your two bread slices, and spread your chosen DFC mustard on one, and your grated cheese on the other. Close the two halves together and drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil on each side of the outside of the sandwich. (In my opinion, olive oil is vastly superior to butter when making grilled cheese: Because of the low water content, you end up with the crispiest crust!)
Grill your sandwich on your now-hot pan, covered and flipping from side to side as needed. Once your 20 minutes simmer has elapsed, puree the tomato soup with a stick blender, and stir in the Not Just BBQ Sauce and the Swiss chard. Season with salt and pepper.
Ladle the soup into bowls and top with more pepper, nutritional yeast, or Parmesan cheese, as desired. Remove the grilled cheese from the pan, slice diagonally and dip away!
