Tomato Soup and Vegetable Pesto PaniniBrrrrrr……There are only two things I like about winters. Snuggling deep-down under the warm and cozy comforter and hot, soulful soups. Those are the only two things that make the winters bearable for me. I agree that there is something magical and beautiful in the air, in the month of December but the nail-biting, teeth-chattering cold just kills it for me. I mean, you go out on a Christmas eve or new year’s eve, only to mummify in the bone-chilling cold and wishing you had listened to your winter-hating gut and stayed at home sipping hot cocoa by the fireplace, reading a good suspense novel. I have not yet seen the new year’s ball drop in New York. Can you believe it? I just don’t think I have it in me. Guess, I am not a cold loving person or may be, I am, if I don’t have to step out of my home.

IMG_3442 (4)What I have in me is to make a mean ‘Tomato Soup and Vegetable Pesto Panini’. I am most happy in my kitchen hustling, bustling and pulling out steaming-hot food from the red-hot oven (or stove top, in this case). It’s what makes me the happiest. I know, I am weird that way! Tomato soup is the most loved soup in our family! Nothing tops that. Nothing beats that. It is also the most requested of all soups. I have tried quite a few soups in my time, but I always have had to come back to this one due to its huge demand by the men in my family.

When I was a kid, soups, in my family, were had only as starters and hence they were much thinner in consistency. Soups now, are had as part of the dinner so I make them little thicker but they are delicious either way. Low-calorie and deliciously-comforting tomato soup with healthy and mouth-watering pesto and vegetable Panini is a treat for chilly bones and frozen souls!! So let’s thaw away!!

Tomato Soup and Vegetable Pesto Panini

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Yield: 3-4 people

Ingredients

    For tomato soup
  • 4 tbsp. butter
  • 1/2 big onion, chopped
  • 1 celery, diced
  • 6 big cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 1 medium carrot, diced
  • 1 1/2 tsp grated ginger
  • 675 gm tomatoes or 9 medium tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp red chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Few sprigs of thyme or a pinch of thyme powder
  • 1/8 cup cream
  • 3-4 sprigs of parsley or cilantro
  • 7-8 fresh basil leaves
    • For Croutons
  • 3-4 slices of Italian bread
  • dry parsley leaves
  • a pinch or two of garlic powder
  • 2-3 tbsp. olive oil
    • For pesto vegetable panini
  • Pesto sauce
  • Tomato, cut into thin roundels
  • Onion, cut into thin rings
  • Salt
  • Black pepper powder
  • Dry Oregano
  • Dry Basil leaves
  • Fresh mozzarella cheese slices
  • Italian bread loaf

Instructions

    For Croutons
  1. Cut the bread into squares and put it into a bowl.
  2. Pour olive oil all over the bread pieces and mix until they are nicely coated. Add garlic powder and parsley leaves and mix well.
  3. Now spread the bread pieces on a griddle and cook until golden brown on both sides on medium flame or you can bake them too.
    4. For Soup
  4. In a large sauce pan, add butter and when it heats up a bit, add bay leaf, ginger and garlic. Stir well.
  5. Add onions and when they get translucent, add celery and carrot. When carrots soften up, add tomatoes and cook well.
  6. Now add salt, chili powder, black pepper powder and thyme.
  7. Add parsley and 4-5 basil leaves.
  8. Pour it in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour it back into pan and let it come to a boil.
  9. Add desired amount of water to adjust the consistency. Add cream and cook until it reaches the consistency you want.
  10. Serve into bowls. Top it with croutons and garnish with basil leaves.
    11. For panini
  11. Cut the loaf into thick slices, diagonally.
  12. Take two slices, apply oil/butter on one side of each bread and pesto sauce on other side of the slices. Put 2-3 tomato slices and 1-2 onion slices on pesto side of one bread.
  13. Sprinkle salt, black pepper, oregano and basil. Put a slice of mozzarella. Cover with another slice, pesto side down.
  14. Cook/Grill on griddle or panini press until golden brown.
  15. Enjoy with hot bowl of soup.

Notes

There are no specific quantities of ingredients for the panini. It is as per your liking.

You can use baguette or ciabatta or other bread as per your preference.

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