Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

Ingredients

• 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 600 ml hot vegetable stock
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• ½ tsp caster sugar
• 8 slices stale white bread
• 200 g mature cheddar, thinly sliced or grated
• 50 g unsalted butter, softened
• 50 ml double cream (optional drizzle)
• 6 basil leaves, torn
• Salt and black pepper
• 100 g dried red lentils, rinsed
• 1 red pepper, diced

Method

1. Warm the olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and red pepper with a good pinch of salt and sweat gently for 8–10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft, glossy and starting to collapse rather than colour; the salt now pulls the water out and builds the base flavour.
2. Stir in the crushed garlic and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant and pale gold.
3. Tip in the chopped tomatoes, red lentils and hot vegetable stock. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and caster sugar, bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 25 minutes, stirring now and then, until the lentils have melted into the soup and the kitchen smells properly tomatoey.
4. While the soup simmers, build the sandwiches. Butter each slice of bread on the outside, layer the cheddar generously over half the slices and close them up. Heat a dry frying pan over medium heat and press the sandwiches in; 3–4 minutes a side, until the bread is deeply golden and the cheese is visibly oozing at the edges. Lower the heat if the bread darkens before the cheese melts; you want molten centres, not toasted shells around cold cheese.
5. Slice the sandwiches into 2cm cubes on a board. You're after crisp golden edges and stringy cheesy middles; the contrast on top of the soup is the aim.
6. Blend the soup completely smooth with a stick blender, then return it to a gentle simmer for 2 minutes to bring it back together. Taste and season; properly. Tinned tomatoes need more salt than you think, and a few grinds of pepper. Taste again.
7. If you're using the cream, swirl it in off the heat; the soup should look silky and glossy.
8. Ladle into warmed bowls, scatter the grilled cheese croutons over so they float and soften at the edges, tear the basil leaves over the top and finish with a coarse grind of black pepper.