Grilled Cheese And Soup

Sounds exciting! Uhhh....

Actually, this isn't your flaccid McDonald's grilled cheese, and this isn't your factory-pressed Campbell's soup brick in a can. (Actually, it is, but I put spices in it.)

The girl and I had to catch a show so we needed something snappy. Seems to be the case more often than not.

Since I was being such a snappy guy, I didn't snag the ingredient-town shot. I'M SORRY OKAY! I mean, uh, here's the list.....*shudders*.....instead...

- Bread (some flax or multigrain variety)
- Margarine (Non-hydrogenated
- Cheese (Cracker Barrel Old Cheddar)
- Cilantro
- Olive Oil (Extra Virgin)
- Red Bell Pepper
- Basil (in crushed spice form)
- Soup (Campbell's Cream of Mushroom; one can (250ml??))
- Turmeric
- Crushed Red Chilis

Slice that pepper up into strips like so. Toss them into a pan with some olive oil and grill away. For best results, get a light black char along the edge of the peppers as seen in the phot-o. Sprinkle basil on peppers toward end of the grilling process. If you put the spices in too early they might lose their potency. You can get the soup cooking during this process.

This is roughly one tsp (pronounced "tsp") of turmeric about to be added to the soup. This will make the soup a yellow-y colour. The change in colour makes it look like you made the soup from scratch even though it came from a can. Remember: the colour hides the truth; your guests never have to know.

This is what a pinch of something looks like. This is a pinch of crushed red chilis. This is a lot for a can of soup. Will bring the spice-o-meter (there is actually a spiciness scale that is derived scientifically: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale) to at least a six out of ten. Half a pinch would probably do.






While It stirs the pot and while It turns the capsicum It chops the cilantro. It chops it loosely.
















Once the peppers are done, butter that bread and flop it in the pan (margarine side down of course). Then stack the ingredients on as shown--or however you prefer.

Well, I guess it still LOOKS like grilled cheese and soup, but I assure you it tastes a lot different. The turmeric completely changes the way the soup tastes. It seems to bind really well with something in the soup, which makes it seem creamier than it would be otherwise--which sounds crazy, because turmeric on its own has a bitter taste with a hint of sweetness. Of course, it doesn't taste creamier. Rather, it tastes slightly sweet. The spiciness of the chilis totally changes the taste of the soup as well.

The grilled cheese was a win as well. I really wish I could recall the type of bread I used because it was delicious. I believe I bought it from Extra Foods, and it was most certainly a multigrain or flax variety. The peppers were tasty, though a little difficult to bite through cleanly, and could have used more basil. The cilantro got a little too warm and subsequently mushy from getting grilled. I recommend adding it after you grill the sandwich.

The lady really liked this actually. She said something like, 'If you keep cooking like this I will definitely let you make supper for me more often'. Surprising since this is one of the more basic things I make.

I would have given this three borks, but since the lady was impressed I'm going to bump it up a notch.

Four borks out of five.