Spicy Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup

*Post by Angela.

Okay, folks.  See if you can identify with this situation:  There is this person, X.  You've heard all about X from your friends, who rave about X.  On the surface, there isn't anything that wows you about X, but X has a few traits that you love, and you are intrigued by the combination of these traits in one person.  You decide to have a date with X.  Your date starts awkwardly, but by the end, you think, "Okay, not bad.  I'm not head-over-heels, but I can tolerate another date with X."  After the second date, you are seriously starting to warm to X.  By the end of date three, you can't stop thinking about X, - you want X morning, noon, and night.  By the end of date five, you and X are roaming Williams-Sonoma with a wedding registry scanner and planning how many kids you want to have.

But remember, everyone, this is a food blog.  Think through the above scenario, but replace "person" with "tomato soup," "X" with "this recipe," "your friends" with "food bloggers," "date" with "bowl,"  "with" with "of," and "roaming Williams-Sonoma....okay, so this metaphor is a little strained, but you get the point.  This expresses exactly how I feel about Michael Symon's Spicy Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup, a recipe I've seen lauded on countless blogs.  The first time I made this soup and had a bowl, I wasn't crazy about it, but liked it well enough not to throw the whole batch out.  By the time I finally finished it, I couldn't get enough.  This is a BOLD soup, an aggressive soup, a soup that wrangles the huge flavors of Sriracha and blue cheese into a sassy, spicy, and blissful union.

 

Enough talk!  On to the soup!  I deviated slightly from the original recipe, based on availability of ingredients and my own personal tastes (like, I hate red onion, so I used yellow,  I couldn't find buttermilk blue cheese, so I used Danish blue, and I upped the garlic, Sriracha, and cheese for a more potent flavor punch). 

List of ingredients for the soup:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion
• kosher salt
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 28-oz can whole San Marzano tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock or mock chicken stock for a vegetarian recipe)
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 tbsp Sriracha
• 1 tbsp fresh oregano leaves
• 3/4 cup Danish blue cheese

First, I finely chopped up the onion, thinly sliced the garlic, and heated the oil in my soup pot over medium heat.  I added the onion to the pot with a pinch of salt and sweated it for about 5 minutes, then added the garlic and sweated it for an additional 2-3 minutes.

Next, I added the canned tomatoes and their juices to the pot, along with the stock, and brought it up to a simmer.  I added the cream, the Sriracha, and the oregano, and simmered for an additional 40 minutes.

I crumbled in the cheese and cooked for an additional 5 minutes.  Finally, I took the soup off the heat and blended it with my immersion blender (you can also pour it into an actual blender, just be careful) until smooth.  At this point, you could take the additional step of straining it for an extra smooth texture, but I never have the patience for it. 

This soup is so filling and satisfying that I usually just eat it with a little bit of crusty bread for a great dinner.  I love this recipe so much that I've only made it a handful of times - it would break my heart if I ever got sick of it.  Seriously, please, give this soup a chance.  I promise you a lifetime of bowls of spicy happiness if you do.

Comments

[ashlee]

well, it's now way to hot out to make soup, but seeing this recipe appear again makes me want to make it tonight! this simple recipe yielding amazing flavor is just one of the many reasons i freaking love chef symon :)
and i'm jealous of your immersion blender!

[Angela]

Ashlee-
It IS way too hot to make soup, but I'm soup-crazy and crave it all the time. I basically ate it for dinner last night and lunch today (and had a little bowl at breakfast, too!). I've never made anything else by Chef Symon, but I suppose given how much I love this soup, I probably should! Also, I LOVE my immersion blender. And it was only $40 at Macy's!