Description
This homemade soup and fancy sourdough bread bowl couldn’t be easier to whip up. The combination of melted cheese, crusty bread, and zesty tomato is definitely hard to beat! The soup is given extra richness by roasting the tomatoes in the oven and adding a few simple flavorings like oregano and thyme.
Ingredients
SOUP
- 3 pounds of Roma tomatoes
- 1 large onion
- 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves of garlic, sliced
- 1/4 teaspoon of dried thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon of dried oregano
- 3 cups of chicken stock
- salt and pepper, to taste
BREAD BOWL
- 1 circular loaf of sour dough bread
- 7 ounces of sliced American cheese
- basil, for garnish
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375° F. Slice the tomatoes in half and cut the onion into large chunks.
Transfer the tomato halves and onion chunks to a cookie tray. Place the tomatoes cup side up. Drizzle the vegetables with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.
Remove the vegetables from the oven and add the garlic. Return to oven and roast for an additional 10 minutes.
Place roasted vegetables in a blender and process until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a stock pot and add thyme, cayenne, oregano, a pinch of salt and pepper.
Add the chicken stock and cook the soup at a simmer for 20 additional minutes. After 20 minutes, taste the soup for seasoning and adjust if needed. Keep the soup on low heat while you prepare the bread bowl.
Slice the top off your loaf and, using your hands, remove most of the interior bread. Leave 1/4 an inch or so of bread lining the walls. Don’t discard bread scraps! You can make fresh bread crumbs or eat them as a snack.
Seal bread bowl with American cheese. Make sure to cover the base of the interior and the sides. I hang a little over the rim too. Place the bread bowl into the oven for 5 minutes to melt the cheese.
Fill the bowl with hot soup and sprinkle with chopped basil. Eat directly from the bowl or spoon soup into smaller serving bowls and rip off some cheesy bread to dunk into your soup. Enjoy!