Green Options

For my edition of the learning to cook Blog, I am going to start with something super simple:  Grilled cheese sandwiches, one the key staple foods of a child growing up in the Midwest.

But these culinary treats should not just be for moms and kids.  Playing around with the recipe some can turn this classic into a work of art, and I would like to show you how.

(Photo taken by Dan Tentler)

Now this is not the first time the guilty pleasures of grilled cheese have been toted on this site.  Kelly Best-Oliver spells out her enjoyment of grilled cheese and tomatoe shallot soup.  Robin Shreeves also encourages grilled cheese and tomato soup in her Thrifty Thursday Blog from September 2008.

However, both these Blogs do not improve the process of making grilled cheese to improve taste.  I like to think that Grilled Cheese sandwiches can be a real meal, an almost delicacy if you will.  That is where I, Jason Karnosky–the working food journalist come in.

After reading Robin’s post last week on easy weeknight meals, I was craving that comfort food classic, tomato soup and grilled cheese.  I’ve been eating it in various incantations since I was tiny, and I wanted a refined, yet simple version of soup.  I looked through several cookbooks for a filling soup that only required ingredients I had on hand, and when I saw Deborah Madison’s Summer Tomato Soup, I knew I would try something similar.  I literally made and enjoyed this dish today and wanted to pass it along.