Tasty Tuesday: Cream Tomato and Basil Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwich

      As a chef I am always producing food that I love to cook. Chefs also enjoy making a simple dish look really elegant with the way we present it to our customers or family.  I would like to say most of us are pretty simple when it comes to food we like to eat at home. Sometimes I go all out to produce a meal for my family, but most of the time it comfort food, you know the food you grew up on, it keeps you grounded to the simple things in life. So I have decided  to write this week’s blog about one of my favorite things to eat. It reminds me of my Mother and growing up in Texas. Of course I put a twist on because we did not keep basil and heavy cream in the house on a regular basis.

  1 Can of Campbell’s Condensed Tomato Soup

  1 Soup Can of Milk or Heavy Cream

  1 tsp of Dried Thyme

  2 tsp of Salt (I use Kosher but it does not matter)

  1 tsp of Crushed Black Pepper

  1 cup of chopped fresh Basil

    1/4 cup fine chopped Onion

  1/4 cup of Butter

  Heat butter in sauce pan and saute onions until tender about 2 minutes.

  Add Basil and saute until fragrant about 1 minute (do not burn, it will ruin the final product)

  Add soup and milk or heavy cream and mix well.

  Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer and adjust with Salt and Pepper.

  Serve hot with a fresh Basil leaf for garnish.

   Grilled Cheese

2 Pieces of Whole Wheat or White Bread

1 cup of melted Butter

2 Slices of Cheese Cheddar, Provolone, or Swiss (not processed it taste funny and does not hold its form very well)

  Heat a frying pan or griddle to about 300 degrees.

  Brush melted butter on one side of bread.

  Place bread in pan.

  Put cheese on bread and top with other piece of bread.

  Brush top piece of bread with butter.

Cook for about 3 minutes on each side until golden brown.

  ***The sandwich is not pictured but I can tell you it was beautiful and teasted great***

As we say in Texas "Ya'll come back now, ya hear"~ Chef Donavan