Week 1: Day 2

Tomato Soup with Roast Beef, Cheddar, and Horseraddish Panini

Ingredients

• 2  tablespoons  olive oil, plus more for the grill pan
• 2  large onions, chopped
• 4  cloves garlic, chopped
• 1  28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
• 3 1/2  cups  low-sodium chicken broth
• 1  teaspoon  dried thyme
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/2  cup  sour cream
• 2  tablespoons  prepared horseradish
• 8  slices  sandwich bread
• 8  ounces  thinly sliced roast beef
• 8  ounces  sharp white Cheddar, sliced
• 2  cups  baby arugula (1 1/2 ounces)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the tomatoes (with their juices), broth, thyme, and ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 15 to 20 minutes. Working in batches, in a blender, puree the mixture until smooth.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream and horseradish. Form sandwiches with the bread, roast beef, Cheddar, arugula, and half the horseradish mixture. Heat a lightly oiled grill pan over medium heat and cook the sandwiches until the cheese is melted, 5 to 6 minutes per side. Top the soup with the remaining horseradish mixture and serve with the sandwiches.

Ease of Ingredients:  B
The ingredients for this recipe were surprisingly difficult to find.  I found the white cheddar at Wal-Mart and that surprised me.  I would expect them to only carry yellow cheddar.  I expected to find prepared horseradish and a can of whole peeled tomatoes, but I did not.  I think I would have found both items at Tom Thumb or Kroger, but I just went to Whole Foods since I was in that neighborhood.  By the way, horseradish is a root, and prepared horseradish is just minced horseradish preserved in vinegar.  Most items here were pretty inexpensive.  The horseradish ran me about $5 which isn't a lot, but I'm not sure how often I will use it.

Ease of Preparation:  B
Overall, this was a pretty easy dinner to make, but it does take time.  I made this recipe on my day off, because I knew I wouldn't want to deal with it after a stressful day at work.  To make the soup, I spent about 8 minutes softening the chopped onions, and an additional 20 minutes cooking it to let the broth thicken.  I thought it wouldn't thicken properly so I added a spoonful of flour to the pan, but that was a mistake.  The flour just made clumps, which I fished out.  I delegated the responsibility of pureeing the broth to the Chris.  I figured I would spill it and burn myself trying to move it from the pan to the blender.  He did a most excellent job.  The paninis were surprisingly difficult to make.  For starters, I used up all the arugula on my first day of cooking, but that's neither here nor there.  The real challenge was trying to toast the paninis and melt the cheese on a skillet without burning them.  I burnt them.  Apparently, you are supposed to use a skillet on medium heat, not high heat.  This whole problem could be solved with a sandwich press or a George Foreman.  Anyway, the boyfriend solved the problem by scraping off the burned areas with a cheese grater.

Taste:  B
The tomato soup was way better than anything Campbell's makes.  The boyfriend really liked it, and so did my buddy David, who will probably be taste-testing many of these recipes with Chris and I.  There are two ways to have the soup.  One is with the sour cream/horseraddish mixture spooned into it.  This will give it a creamier consistency and a little bit of a kick.  The other is without it.  Chris and I preferred with the mixture, David didn't want to add it to his.

The paninis were not great, but they were edible.  Chris said they were plain.  David didn't comment on them.  Probably because he wasn't crazy about them.  If he can't say something nice, he won't say anything at all.  I bought pre-packaged roast beef that has been processed to death, so all the meaty flavor is gone.  Next time I make this, I'll have to get choosier with my choice beef.

Left Overs:  A
I'm pretty sure the soup will be excellent when I microwave it tomorrow.  And I only made enough sandwiches for three people, so no leftovers there.  Who wants to eat a day old sandwich anyway?