Roasted Tomato Soup with Sourdough Grilled Cheese

Serves 2 · Prep 10 min · Cook 40 min

Roasting fresh tomatoes and peppers before they go anywhere near the pot is what makes this taste like a restaurant soup instead of a tin. The bone broth replaces water in the stock for a deeper, savoury base, and the sourdough grilled cheese turns it into a full meal.

Ingredients

Soup

• 1kg ripe tomatoes (about 8 medium), halved
• 2 red bell peppers, deseeded and quartered
• 1 large red onion, quartered
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 500ml bone broth
• 120ml low-fat cream
• 20g fresh basil
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper

Grilled cheese — makes 4

• 8 slices sourdough
• 160g low-fat high-protein cheese, grated

Method

1. Roast the vegetables — 25 min Toss the tomatoes, peppers and onion with two-thirds of the olive oil, the salt and the pepper. Air fryer: 190°C for 20–25 minutes. Oven: 200°C for 35 minutes. You want the edges blistered and darkened in spots — that char is the flavour.

2. Start the pot — 1 min Heat the remaining olive oil in a large pot over medium-low. Add the garlic and most of the basil and cook for 30–60 seconds, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic colour.

3. Add the roasted vegetables — 5 min Tip everything from the tray into the pot, juices included, and stir for a few minutes so it picks up the garlic and basil.

4. Broth and simmer — 15 min Pour in the bone broth, bring to a boil, then drop to a gentle simmer uncovered until slightly reduced.

5. Blend Blend smooth with a stick blender. Pass it through a sieve if you want it silkier.

6. Finish with cream — 2 min Lower the heat, stir in the cream and warm through without boiling. Taste and adjust the salt.

7. Grilled cheese — 6 min Divide the cheese between 4 slices of sourdough and top with the rest. Toast in a dry non-stick pan over medium heat, 3 minutes per side, pressing with a spatula until golden and fully melted. No oil or butter — the sourdough crisps on its own.

8. Serve Ladle into bowls, finish with the reserved basil and a crack of black pepper. Cut the sandwiches diagonally for dipping.

Macros per serving

Each serving is a generous bowl plus 2 sandwiches. The soup makes a little extra — it keeps 4 days in the fridge.

Notes

Use the ripest tomatoes you can find. Underripe ones stay acidic no matter how long you roast them, and no amount of cream will fix it.

Don't skip the tray juices. Everything that collects under the tomatoes while they roast goes into the pot.

The soup freezes well if you leave the cream out and stir it in when reheating. Make the sandwiches fresh — they're only good straight out of the pan.

Full before dinner but it's only 3pm? Skip the second bowl and reach for a banana and a protein drink instead — same comfort-food instinct, more protein, no crash before the next real meal.