Cream of Spinach and Mushroom Soup with Broiled Tomatoes

This entire meal takes about 45 minutes from start to finish. The soup starts with white onion and red potato sautéed in olive oil until translucent. Add some chopped garlic along with dried basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes. After 2 or 3 minutes, add chopped mushrooms and cook until soft. Then add chicken stock, 1 cup of red wine, and the spinach (we used frozen spinach that we thawed and squeezed out the excess water). Let that simmer for about 10 minutes then lower heat and whisk in 1 cup of half and half. Turn heat off, and ladle into blender to puree. When smooth to your taste, transfer back to pot, season with salt and pepper, and bring back to simmer for another 5-10 minutes. While soup is simmering, slice tomatoes into thirds, arrange on baking sheet, and drizzle with olive oil. Top with grated asiago and put under a low broiler, until cheese is bubbly and tomatoes slightly brown. We paired this with a primitivo wine from California that worked wonderfully!