Michael Symon's Spicy Tomato & Blue Cheese Soup

At the end of yesterday's video podcast with Michael Symon, you may have heard me sheepishly express doubt about adding blue cheese to tomato soup. For some reason, I thought the result would be grainy and gloppy and just kind of gross. Instead, this tomato soup was absolutely the best tomato soup I've ever had--and the best part about it is you'd never know that blue cheese was what was making it taste so good. It adds depth and creaminess but it doesn't taste funky and you don't notice the texture.

I had to make two substitutions that you may find useful. First, Chef Symon is very specific about the blue cheese he uses--Roth Kase Buttermilk Blue cheese--which I couldn't find at the Gourmet Garage. So I bought a creamy blue cheese (I think it may have been sweet gorgonzola), emphasis on the creamy. I figured a creamy blue cheese would blend up better than a harder blue cheese and that instinct was very sound; the cheese disappeared into the soup.

The second substitution was one that I was sad about. In my last apartment I kept Sriracha in my fridge, I didn't take it with me when we moved, and when I went soup shopping the other night there was no Sriracha to be found. So I bought Tabasco, figuring that not only would it play a similar role--adding heat--but that it would pair nicely with the blue cheese as it does with chicken wings and blue cheese sauce.

Finally, I used a hand blender to blend it up instead of a blender blender and it didn't all get super blended, but that was fine. I paired the soup with some crusty bread and a simple salad of apple, fennel, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Give this soup a whirl and don't tell anyone what the secret ingredient is: see if they can guess. You'll make blue cheese soup converts out of everyone.

Spicy Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup

from "Michael Symon's Live To Cook" by Michael Symon

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium red onion, finely chopped

Kosher salt

4 garlic cloves, sliced

1 28-oz can San Marzano tomatoes, with their juice

1 1/2 cups Chicken Stock

3/4 cups heavy cream

2 tablespoons sriracha sauce

1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves

1/2 cup Roth Kase Buttermilk Blue cheese

Heat the olive oil in a 4-quart pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion and a three-fingered pinch of salt and sweat for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to sweat for 2 more minutes. Add the tomatoes, their juice and the stock and bring to a simmer. (I added a little more salt here too). Add the cream, sriracha sauce, and oregano and simmer for 45 minutes.

Pour the soup into a blender, add the blue cheese, and blend until smooth, working in batches if needed.

Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean pot, taste, adjust the seasoning if necessary, and reheat to serve. The soup will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for a few days.