Tomato and Gorgonzola Soup

Tonight was one of those nights where I would have been content to eat a bowl of cereal, or snack on goldfish and ice cream instead of make something for dinner. But then I got to thinking of all the seemingly random ingredients I have collected over the last few weeks that really need to be eaten. I didn't want to make anything complicated - Carter ate dinner when he woke up from his nap at 4pm (he went to sleep without eating lunch today) and Matt was already in bed getting his nap on before work.

I had 4 ounces of Gorgonzola cheese, fresh basil from my garden, and a ridiculous number of canned diced tomatoes in the pantry. I was either going to make some kind of strange sauce for pasta, or make a soup. And even though it's 95 degrees outside, I opted for the soup figuring it would be lighter than any pasta dish I made.

The Ingredients



I started out by heating up about 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Once the pan was nice and hot I added 1/2 of a yellow onion, diced, and two small/medium carrots, diced. (You can really use any veggies that you like, or don't like, here. Add some celery or peppers or even cucumbers.) I allowed the vegetables to cook down and sweat a little bit (a sprinkle of salt helps) and added 2 Tablespoons of tomato paste before the onions got any color on them. Cook tomato paste a little bit. Don't be afraid if the bottom of your pan starts to darken. As long as it doesn't smell like it's burning, and you keep the food moving, the brown bits on the bottom of the pan will add great flavor to your dish.

After about 5 minutes, add the contents of the saucepan into a blender or food processor. Reduce heat and add 2 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar to deglaze sauce pan, stirring constantly to scrape up brown bits from bottom. Remove from heat. Pour a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes into blender and pulse for about 30 seconds. The longer it runs, the less chunky your soup will be. If you prefer a more Bisque-like consistency, pour soup back into sauce pan. If you prefer a more thin soup, strain before adding back to sauce pan. Return to heat and heat through.

At this point I found the soup to be incredibly acidic and in desperate need of some taming. I added about 1/2-3/4 cup milk (or half-and-half, or cream) and 1-2 Tablespoons of sugar. Be sure to taste your soup along the way to make sure it is to your liking. And as always, you can always add seasoning, but you can never take it away. Then I cut a chiffonade of about 10 basil leaves. (This is just stacking them on top of one another, rolling them up like a cigar, and then making thin cuts, allowing the basil to appear like tiny ribbons.) I made the soup to my liking (even Carter's liking too), and then added the Gorgonzola cheese. I just poured it in, gave it a quick swirl, and then covered the sauce pan to allow the cheese to melt a little bit. And much to my surprise, it actually did melt and the large chunks had a little bit of stringiness to them. Carter loved eating the soup with some croutons sprinkled over top. Now it's ready to serve! Oh, and I think it's safe to say this made at least 4 servings.