Habanero Grilled Cheese with Jalapeno-Tomato Soup
Tomato soup and grilled cheese are a match made in heaven, especially when you make them from scratch and include plenty of habanero peppers!
Habanero Grilled Cheese
Ingredients
- 4 slices Italian bread
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 habanero pepper, chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped onion
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 ounces Asiago cheese
- 2 ounces Pepperjack cheese
- 2 ounces Colbyjack cheese
- 1/2 red Bartlett pear, sliced thin
Cooking Directions
- Butter the Italian bread slices and set aside.
- To a food processor (I used a molcajete), add habanero, onion, olive oil and salt and pepper. Process or grind to combine to a paste.
- Chop all the cheeses into a mixture and set aside.
- Heat oven to 400 degrees.
- Heat a large flat pan to medium-high heat.
- Spread habanero paste over the non-buttered bread slices.
- Grill bread slices butter side down. Cook about 2-3 minutes until they are crispy and brown.
- Set bread slices onto a baking sheet and Divide cheeses over the paste spread.
- Bake for 5 minutes, or until cheeses are nice and melted. Remove from oven.
- Set pear slices over cheeses and combine the slices into 2 sandwiches.
- Slice into triangles and serve!
We served ours with our own Jalapeno-Tomato Soup – see below.
Jalapeno-Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 3-4 jalapeno peppers, chopped
- 1 habanero pepper, chopped
- 2 small sweet onions, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon flour
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 can stewed tomatoes
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
Cooking Directions
- Heat a sauté pan to medium heat. Add olive oil with jalapeno peppers, habanero, garlic and onions. Cook about 5 minutes, or until ingredients are softened.
- While the above is cooking, heat a large pot to medium heat and add butter. Allow butter to melt.
- Add flour to butter and stir to form a roux. Cook about 5-6 minutes until nutty brown.
- Add peppers and onions to the pot and season with salt and pepper. Stir.
- Add chicken broth and stir. Bring to a light boil and reduce heat to simmer.
- Add stewed tomatoes and chili powder and simmer about 10 minutes.
- Use an immersion blender to process the soup. You can also transfer the soup in small batches to a blender to process and return to the soup pot. Process until smooth.
- Serve!