Ready to try a Twist on grilled cheese and tomato soup? Who doesn’t love a good gooey grilled cheese sandwich with a piping hot bowl of tomato soup? I sure do and, yes, I love what we all grew up on. BUT…now I found a new love! My twist is a fresh homemade tomato soup with Caesar grilled cheese dipping fingers!
I have to give credit where credit is due. My son Henry and his girlfriend Emily came up with the soup recipe. Two college students who are both pescatarians (vegetarians that eat fish), they like to cook fresh delicious dinners. In fact, they have an instagram page, hankilycookin dedicated to their food!
Home on break, Henry enlisted his sister Hannah’s help in making this soup and it was delicious! We had grilled cheese sandwiches with it because, well let’s face it, what goes better with tomato soup? Last week it came to me that adding that tangy sharpness of a Caesar salad would pair nicely with it. Eating a salad though was not doing it for me so I decided to try adding the flavors to my sandwich!
A Twist on Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
The Method to Hankily’s Tomato Soup
This recipe is so easy you can have your children help you!
First prepare the vegetables: 2 vine ripened tomatoes cut in half, 6 plum tomatoes cut in half, 1 medium onion cut in half, 1 head of garlic with the top cut off, 1/2 red pepper cut in half.
Place all the vegetables on a baking sheet. Season with extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. Roast at 425 until charred.
Next add the roasted vegetables, 3-4 basil leaves, a tablespoon of balsamic or sherry vinegar and a cup of almond or oat milk to a blend and whirl away.
Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a saucepan. At this point you can thin it out by adding vegetable stock if need be. Taste and adjust seasoning to your preference. That’s it!
What To Serve With The Soup???
Caesar Grilled Cheese Dipping Fingers
This twist on grilled cheese and tomato soup are these fun dipping fingers! I promise for those of you that do not like anchovies, like me, there are none in this recipe! The crispy, tangy outer crust with a gooey cheesy center make this grilled cheese perfect for dipping into the piping hot fresh homemade tomato soup.
A handful of quality ingredients are the backbone of this sandwich. Mayonnaise (instead of olive oil and egg), Dijon mustard, grated lemon peel (instead of juice), Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder and white pepper create the spread that mimics a Caesar dressing.
A rustic peasant bread once grilled is like a crunchy crouton. Add shredded parmesan and grated parmesan and now you have all the flavors of a Caesar salad!
Cook’s Notes:
Use a melty mild cheese inside your sandwich like Fontina, Havarti or Muenster.
If you make this recipe and love it, I would love if you gave it 5 stars!
The Essentials:
Do you Love Soups and Sandwiches? Try These:
Cheddar Beer Soup
Black Bean Enchilada Soup
Grown Up Grilled Cheese
Caesar Grilled Cheese Dipping Fingers
Tangy, crunchy, cheesy grilled sandwich fingers perfect for dunking in Tomato soup!
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- zest of 1 lemon
- dash of Worcestershire sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon white ground pepper
- 4 slices good quality peasant bread
- 8 slices mild cheese
- 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Mix together the mayonnaise, mustard, lemon zest, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder and pepper.
- Combine the two Parmesan cheeses on a plate.
- Place 2 slices of bread down on cutting board. Evenly top each with 4 slices of cheese. Put the remaining 2 slices of bread on top.
- Spread a layer of the sauce on the top of the bread.
- Turn upside down onto the plate of cheese, pressing down so cheese adheres to the outside.
- Heat grill pan and add butter. Once it is melted add the cheese side down to the pan. Press down with spatula to form a crust. Cook about 5 minutes. Add spread to top of sandwich and using your fingers press some of the remaining cheese into it. Flip the sandwich and again press down to form a crust on the second side. Cover with a lid to melt interior cheese and cook another 5 minutes.
- Remove sandwich to cutting board and cut in half. Cut each half in half creating long narrow fingers.
The cooking time is about 10 minutes for each sandwich. If you have a grill pan that covers multiple burners, your cook time will be reduced.
Cooking 2 sandwiches will create 8 fingers. Serving sizes will depend on how many fingers you choose to eat.
Thanks for the instagram mention, and I’m so glad that the soup was a hit 🙂