Had to try it after all the glowing reviews here...
I made it in a large stainless steel saucepan (didn't have anything else big enough), pretty much according to the recipe but with "pedestrian" rather than de-luxe canned tomatoes. It was in the oven for a lot longer than the recipe called for (at least 2x) in order to get some caramelisation happening in this shape of pan (it would be easier with a flatter vessel!).
I blended the soup and decided not to strain it - I liked the structure / mushiness that came out of the (hand) blender, didn't see the need for straining it.
For the toasties, I used Provolone, Gruyere, and American cheese (just out of curiosity - it tasted great overall, but it didn't outperform a good Cheddar and its low melting point is not really necessary). I used the Toastie bags to make them, and got amazing results out of our fairly large toaster. Toastie bags are an underrated method, if you haven't tried them, I highly recommend them - soooo easy, and sooo good results!
All in all, a huge success with everyone who sampled the wares. Winner, winner, chicken(?) dinner!