Comfort Food with Grilled Cheese Croutons

About a year ago or so, Willie went to a cooking class based on Ina Garten's cookbook, Foolproof. The cookbook was included with the price of the class. Even though we've had the cookbook in our house all this time, it wasn't until my friend Dayna sent me Foolproof as a part of our cookbook club, that I actually cooked from the book. I was intrigued by this recipe immediately because 1) it's tomato soup, 2) it has grilled cheese croutons, 3) do I need to tell you another reason before you're as intrigued as I was? No?! I didn't think so! 

This soup is fantastic! I made it with the orzo pasta, but I want to experiment with it a little more in the future and I suggest you do the same. I'll be trying it with no orzo, half the orzo, whole-wheat orzo, and fregola pasta. How about you?

Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons
by Sandra
Adapted from a recipe from Ina Garten's cookbook, Foolproof

1 Tablespoon olive oil (I used Sciabica Manzanillo Variety Fall Harvest)
2 large sweet onions, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups chicken stock (mine was homemade, use what you have on hand)
1 28-ounce can San Marzano crushed tomatoes
A large pinch of saffron threads (I used Marx Foods Sargol Saffron Threads)
1 Tablespoon coarse kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup orzo pasta, drained (use package instructions but only cook for 7 minutes)
1/4 cup heavy cream

Heat a heavy stock pot or Dutch oven over medium heat until hot. Add the olive oil and you will see a shimmer to it. Immediately add the chopped onions and stir. If your onions brown quickly, reduce the heat to medium low. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until they are softened, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and stir. Cook for about a minute or so until it becomes fragrant. Add the stock, tomatoes, saffron threads, salt, and pepper and stir. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add the cooked and drained orzo. Add the heavy cream. Stir. Cook until heated through. Serve with Grilled Cheese Croutons (below).

Note: The soup serves 4. If you do not plan on serving all of the soup at once, it is a good idea not to add the orzo to the soup. Pasta absorbs so much liquid that your soup will be less soup-y as a leftover. Simply add a serving of orzo to your individual soup serving bowl and then add the soup over it. Make fresh orzo with your leftover soup.

Grilled Cheese Croutons
by Sandra
Adapted from a recipe from Ina Garten's cookbook, Foolproof

Use any kind of bread you have on hand and any cheese as well. I used a 15 grain bread and a combination of Gruyere and Jarlsberg because it is what I had on hand, but you can use white bread and American cheese, if that's what you have! Anything will work! Make a grilled cheese and then allow it to sit on a cutting board until slightly cooled. Cut in 1-inch squares like croutons and serve your soup with a few, more more than a few, atop the soup.