Grilled Cheez and Gypsy Soup.

These hit the spot!


I make these sandwiches ALL the time using the "Colby Chedda" Block uncheese recipe from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook. They are so good.


Gypsy soup (aka creamy tomato soup)

There's this cafe in Westwood called The Gypsy Cafe. And they have (or had, I haven't been there in years) this creamy tomato soup called 'Gypsy Soup'. I remember it being my favorite thing on the menu, served with 1/2 a sandwich. I never knew what was in it but I think ricotta cheese was what made the soup creamy. At that time I would recreate it at home very cheaply with a can of condensed tomato soup and a tub of ricotta.

I haven't thought about that soup since then but tonight I wanted tomato soup to go with my grilled cheez sandwich. I've never made my own tomato soup before so I decided to just wing it. I brought out stuff from the pantry and fridge and next thing I knew, I was making a creamy soup that reminded me a lot of the Gypsy Soup from that cafe. yeah!

Vegan Gypsy Soup

1 TB olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 TB fresh basil, chopped
2 TB soy sauce or more to taste
1 tsp sugar
1 14 oz. can stewed tomatoes, blended until smooth in a blender
2 1/2 cups plain and unsweetened soymilk
4 tsp. (or more if desired) tomato paste
1 TB nutritional yeast (optional)
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and saute onion and garlic until softened. Add the basil, soy sauce and sugar and stir. Add the tomatoes and bring it to a boil. Slowly add the soymilk. Add the tomato paste and stir until it is dissolved. You may add more depending on how tomato-ey you want your soup. Add the nutritional yeast if using and ground black pepper. Lower heat and simmer for about 10 minutes until everything comes together and thickens a bit.