Creamy Tomato-Basil Soup & Italian Patty Melts

Serves 4
Time: 30 minutes

Soup:
4 cups whole milk
3 cans (14 ounces each) diced tomatoes, drained
2 rounded tablespoons tomato paste
1 medium onion, chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ cup flour
2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
1 rib celery, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic
½ cup basil pesto

Patty melts:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
4 sweet Italian sausage patties (1/4 pound each)
1 cubanelle (sweet Italian pepper), seeded and sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
8 slices Italian bread
8 slices provolone cheese

Make the soup: Pour milk into a medium pot over medium heat and heat until hot but not boiling. Put tomatoes, tomato paste, onions, salt, pepper, sugar, flour, butter, celery, and garlic in a food processor and grind until smooth. Pour mixture into hot milk and raise heat to bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.Start the patty melts: Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Drizzle pan with oil and sausage patties; cook until no longer pink in the middle. Remove from pan and add another tablespoon oil and the peppers and onions. Season with salt and pepper (I like to add a little sugar too, it caramelizes the onions) and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from pan. Wipe pan clean and reduce heat to medium-low.Assemble sandwiches: Place 4 slices bread on a work surface, top each with ¼ of the peppers and onions, then a slice of cheese, a sausage patty, another slice of cheese, and another slice of bread. Add butter to skillet and cook patty melts until golden and cheese is melted, 2-3 minutes on each side. Press with spatula as they cook or set another heavy skillet on top to weigh them down. (I cook the patty melts in my George Foreman Grill…)

Pour soup into shallow bowls and stir a little pesto into each serving. Cut the patty melts corner to corner and dip in the soup as you eat.

Posted by-Alisyn