Grilling Soup

It's a joke so old that no one remembers how it goes; grilled soup, but I'm not talking about pouring a can of soup on your cooking grate, I'm talking about adding real grill flavor to your next homemade soup or stew. Obviously, grilling meats for soup is a great idea. Everything from steaks to sausages are going to pick up lots of extra flavors from the grill and take that to your soup. But you really need to think about all the ingredients that you can easily grill from bell peppers and potatoes to tomatoes.

Speaking of tomatoes, try a grilled tomato soup. It is better than the traditional method of blanching the tomatoes in boiling water, and far, far better than that stuff from the can. To make an easy homemade tomato soup start with a lot of ripe tomatoes. Cut them in half and brush lightly with olive oil. For extra flavor, use an olive oil flavored with garlic, pepper and/or oregano. Place the tomatoes cut side down on your hot grill and close the lid. In about 3 to 5 minutes the skins will be loose and the tomatoes will be ready for soup. If you like tomatoes like I do you really have to get a smell of those toasted tomatoes on the grill.

Take the tomatoes from the grill and let them cool down enough to work with. If you cut out the stem end of the tomato you'll find you can simply lift off the skin. The juice and seeds will have loosened and you can literally squeeze that out of the tomatoes. Throw them in a blend and blend until smooth. Heat in a saucepan and you have tomato soup. Of course you'll want to add something to flavor your soup, but this really is a great way to make a great soup, and you can tell people you made it on the grill.

When it comes to grilling meats for soup you want to really season it up before you grill. Think about adding the seasonings for your soup to the meat as a rub. Whether you are adding beef steaks or chicken breasts, or anything else, by applying a thick, flavorful rub to the meat you get extra seasonings for the soup. When I say a thick rub, I mean something more than you would probably dream of if you were simply going to eat that meat by itself. Be careful not to dislodge the rub when you remove the meat from the grill and cut it up for your soup or stew. This way you season the soup by seasoning the meat.

All kinds of vegetables can be grilled quickly and easily for soups. Lightly brush vegetables with oil and place them on a hot grill. Since all this is going into a pot to cook more anyway you don't need to get everything completely cooked through, just grilled enough to add that great flavor and to soften skins for easy removal.

So next time you want to make a homemade soup or stew start by firing up the grill.