Baked Boursin Soup

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This soup uses a block of Boursin to make the creamiest, most flavoursome soup imaginable!

Prep Time15

Cook Time25

Total Time40

Course: Main Course, Starter

Cuisine: Western

Servings:

Author: Chris Collins

Cost: £3.50 / $4

Equipment

Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
Large Roasting Tray (mine is 34x24cm / 13x9.5" which works perfectly)
Blender or Hand Blender
Jug (for stock)
Large Pan (for grilled cheese - optional)

Ingredients

Boursin Soup

500g / 1lb Tomatoes, quartered (I use vine-ripened tomatoes)
2 Red Peppers, diced into 2cm/0.8" pieces
1 Red Onion, diced into 2cm/0.8" pieces
1 large Red Chilli, halved and deseeded (see notes)
2 cloves of Garlic, left in skins
2 tbsp Oil from a jar of Sun Dried Tomatoes
1/4 tsp EACH: Salt, Black Pepper, plus more to taste
1x 150g/5oz block of Garlic & Herbs Boursin Cheese
6 Sun Dried Tomatoes
1 small bunch of Fresh Basil (a small bunch is typically 30g/1oz)
240ml / 1 cup Chicken Stock, or as needed (sub veg stock)

Grilled Cheese (optional)

4 medium slices of Bread (see notes)
200 - 250g / 2 - 2 1/2 cups grated Cheese (see notes)
Chilli Oil, as needed (sub mayo or butter for no spice)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.
In a large roasting tray, combine the tomatoes, peppers, onion, chilli and garlic with 2 tbsp oil and 1/4 tsp salt and pepper. Spread everything out, place the Boursin in the centre, then roast for 25-30 minutes until the veg is soft and lightly charred. If you notice the Boursin charring too quickly, just pop a piece of foil over it.
Let everything cool for a few minutes, then add to a blender with the basil, sun dried tomatoes and stock. Leave the hole at the top open and pop a clean tea towel over the top. Pulse until smooth, then adjust seasoning to taste and thin out with more stock if you need to. Alternatively, you can add everything to a pot and use a hand blender to blend until smooth. To warm up or thicken the soup, just gently simmer and stir over low-medium heat.
Grilled Cheese: brush one side of each slice of bread with chilli oil (or butter/mayo) and place half of them oil-side-down. Add the cheese to those slices, then add the second slice on top. Add to a large pan over medium heat and fry both sides until deep golden and crispy, with the cheese melted in the centre.
Serve up and enjoy!

Video

Notes

a) Soup spice - I usually add a large fresh red chilli (the ones you get in packets from the supermarket). After deseeding it, the soup will have a very mellow tingle of spice. If you're not good with spice at all, just leave this out.

b) Garlic - Boursin is obviously pretty garlicky, but I like to add an extra couple of cloves for a boost of flavour. If you're at all wary, roast them anyway, then blitz the soup without them and see if you could go more garlicky.

c) Consistency - 1 cup of stock will give you a relatively thick soup, which I prefer. You can very easily thin it out with more stock though if you'd like. If you go overboard, just simmer to reduce.

d) Grilled cheese - I recommend using a firm loaf like Sourdough, just so the grilled cheese is nice and sturdy. For the cheese, I use half Mozzarella and half Red Leicester, but you can use any melty cheese you fancy (Gouda, Cheddar and Gruyere all work nicely). For reference, the chilli oil brand I use is Lee Kum Kee Chiu Chow Chilli Oil and it's pretty spicy!

e) Calories - Just the soup divided by 4.

Nutrition