Adventures in Cuisine

So Saturday night I got an amazing idea to make a Bruschetta Tomato Soup after watching something online. I love Bruschetta and I love a good tomato soup. So I looked up a couple good recipes for Bruschetta and took the elements that I liked from each and then looked up a bunch of Tomato Soup recipes and did the same thing with them. The recipe I came up with is as follows and I even added the pictures I took of it! Being an equal opportunity chef, I decided to use my family as Guinea Pigs for my recipe. Everyone loved it and it was a quick and easy recipe when all was said and done!

Bruschetta Tomato Soup

Serves 10-12

Ingredients	Tools
3 14.5oz cans of Vegetable or Chicken broth 4 cans of Seasoned Diced Tomatoes 1 large Onion, halved 12-16 Cloves Garlic 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp Olive Oil 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar 1/4 cup butter 1/4 cup flour 3 Medium Tomatoes 4-6 leaves fresh Basil 1 lb Mozzarella Cheese 1 Baguette, sliced into 1" pieces	Large pot Blender (any shape or size) Whisk Strainer Baking Dish Medium sized bowl Sauce pan Soup Crocks (Oven Safe)

1. To start this recipe, go ahead and get all your cans opened. 
2. Place the strainer on the medium sized bowl and drain the liquid off of the canned tomatoes.
3. Slice one half of the Onion and coarsely slice 8-10 cloves of Garlic (use as much or as little as you want).
4. Place tomatoes, sliced Garlic and Onions, and 2 tbsp of Oil and Balsamic vinegar into your baking dish. Bake at 400°  for 20 minutes or until edges of tomatoes start to blacken.
5.  Pour your broth and the liquid from the tomatoes into your stock pot and warm over medium heat for10 minutes.
6. Depending on the type of blender you'll be using you can and your tomato mixture to your broth and blend with a stick blender or pour the mix into a standing blender and puree the mix. Make sure all pieces have been thoroughly blended. Pour the mix into your broth and allow to simmer.
7. While you're letting your mix simmer, now is the time to get your Roux made and the Bruschetta topping marinating. In a small sauce pan melt your 1/4 butter and add the 1/4 flour. Whisk vigorously, making sure there are no lumps or bumps of flour.



*sniff* Ahh. It smelled so good once
everything was blended  and mixed!

8. Scrape your roux into your soup and give it a goo whisk to blend the roux in. Turn heat down to a medium low setting and allow to simmer for 30 minutes. 
9. Take your medium bowl that you already used and place the 1/4 cup Olive Oil and the 1/2 cup Balsamic Vinegar into it. 
10. Add the remaining Garlic, chopped to the mixture.
11. Dice your medium tomatoes  and place into the mixture. 
12. Roll your fresh basil into a little tube and slice into thin ribbons. Add to your tomato, garlic and Balsamic mixture. Stir well and set aside.
13. Chop the remaining 1/2 an onion and put into your soup. Taste your soup at this point to check consistency and flavor. Add salt and pepper to taste and allow to simmer for an additional 20-30 minutes.
14. Toast your sliced baguette in the oven for 10 minutes or until crispy and lightly browned. Set aside and allow to cool.

15.   See my pretty picture on the left? Dish out your soup into individual soup crocks, lay a piece of toast on top and then a slice of Mozzarella cheese on top. Bake in the oven at 350° until the cheese has just started to brown around the edges.
16.   Place a soup spoonful of Bruschetta on top of the cheese and serve! 

Nutrition Facts:

	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein
Total:	3021	248	189	101
Per Serving:	252	21	16	8