Tomato Soup with Goat Cheese Flan and Parmesan Sticks

Robert Wiedmaier, owner-chef of Marcel's recipe is three different elements in one. The Parmesan Sticks could be made alone to serve with cocktails and the Goat Cheese Flans could also become an alternative to the more familiar grilled goat cheese served on a mixed leaf salad.

Serves eight.

15 red and 15 yellow vine-ripened tomatoes
6 shallots, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
8 strips of Applewood smoked bacon (available at Dean & DeLuca) or regular smoked bacon, roughly chopped
1 bunch fresh thyme
Fresh cracked white pepper to taste
Kosher salt to taste
1 quart heavy cream
5 ounces of mixed baby micro greens (available at Whole Foods)
1 quart chicken stock
4 tablespoons olive oil

Cut tomatoes in half and place on sheet pan, sprinkle with shallots and garlic and
chopped thyme. Place in a 250F-degree oven for approximately 50 minutes.

Take a large pot, add olive oil and chopped bacon and cook over medium
heat, stirring, until bacon becomes opaque. Pull tomatoes out of oven and
add to pot with bacon. Stir to mix, then add chicken stock and let simmer for 20
minutes. Add heavy cream and cook on low for 15 minutes slowly.

Put soup in a large blender and blend until smooth. Pass through a sieve and
season with salt and pepper.

Goat Cheese Flan
2 4-ounce logs of French goat cheese
4 eggs
Butter or spray

Mix eggs with goat cheese and season with salt and pepper. Put into ramekins
and cook in bain-marie water bath* at 275F degrees until firm. Let cool.

* Make a bain-marie by putting all the ramekins into a roasting pan full of boiling
water and bake in a 275-degree oven until a wooden skewer or toothpick
inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Parmesan Sticks — make 2 for each bowl of soup
2 or more phyllo dough sheets
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

Take phyllo dough and cut into 16 strips that are 1 inch wide and 5 inches long.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and thyme leaves and press lightly into
dough. Bake in 350-degree oven until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
Place goat cheese flan in the middle of a bowl. Pour hot soup around, place micro
greens on top of flan and put Parmesan sticks across.

This recipe first appeared in the NorthWest Current. Photo Bill Petros/The Current.

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