In winter when I was a kid my Grandmother used to make something she called a “Welsh Rarebit.”
Turns out there are many variations on this theme but they all use tomato, toasted bread and melted cheese in some combination.
I even found one called a “Blushing Bunny.”
I even found one called a “Blushing Bunny.”
AllRecipes melts the cheese right into tomato soup.
Martha skips the soup entirely and tops the bread and cheese
with a slice of tomato.
with a slice of tomato.
But Grandma always made tomato soup and floated the bread and cheese in the middle.
I started with a big Vidalia, chopped, and softened in olive oil, with a teaspoon of hot red pepper flakes and another teaspoon of good ground cumin.
While your onion is softening,
clean a lot of fresh green basil.
You’ll have to add a couple cups of water, too,
but I had frozen leek stock because y'know, of course I did.
So add two 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes and 2 cups of water.
Or frozen stock. Whatever.
This has to bubble for awhile, perhaps 10 or 15 minutes. Cook the tomatoes and let the onions melt.
Then dump in the basil.
And blend without further cooking, to keep the basil fresh.
Perhaps add salt, or more pepper if it needs it.
I miss snow. I miss Grandma, too.