Lazy Roasted Pepper And Tomato Soup (Soups)

Member Name: mikebaileyuk

Product:	Soups
Date:	14/11/09 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very little preparation

Disadvantages: I hope there are none

Several years ago somebody bought me 'The New Covent Garden Book Of Soups'. It really is an excellent book, well written with lots of interesting recipes, some easy, some not so easy but the ones I tried at least were very, very tasty.

Now I don't pretend to be able to improve on their recipes but I always enjoy experimenting, especially if I can find ways to make things easier or save some time in the kitchen.

My favourite soup recipe was called something like 'Roasted Red Pepper And Tomato Soup'. I enjoyed it so much that I made it several times, sticking religiously to the way the recipe told me to do things. It was pretty easy to make but from what I remember (having lent the book to someone and never getting it back) you had to gently fry an onion for 15 minutes without letting it go brown. No problem, but I did wonder if I could just roast the onion in the oven along with the rest of the ingredients, saving all that standing around in front of the hob and saving a bit of energy as well. I also wondered what would happen if I didn't bother peeling the skins off the tomatoes by cutting a cross in the flesh and plunging them in boiling water for a minute.

At this point you might start to think that I just can't be bothered to do anything more than shove a roasting dish in the oven and forget about anything more strenuous, yep that's me!

OK so here was the plan, I'd just shove everything in a roasting dish, bung it in the oven and then go and put my feet up until the timer went 'ding'. Does laziness ever pay off? Well yes as a matter of fact, the results were pretty amazing, but I suppose you really need to know some ingredients first before you too can live the Life of Riley.

First a few things about how I now approach making this soup, I don't weigh or measure anything ever when I cook and when I buy ingredients I always buy what looks like the right amount. I know this sounds a bit hit and miss but it works. Like anything, you get better at judging things with practise.

Peppers.
Most supermarkets sell peppers in bags of 3, one green, one red, one yellow or economy peppers with maybe 4 or 5, maybe more, but predominantly green ones. If you buy peppers singly of course you can choose all one colour. The taste of the final soup does change with the colour you choose but the only thing I avoid is using green ones only as this produces a soup which can be slightly bitter. I either buy 3 in a pack or a bag of economy ones as long as there are at least 2 that are not green.

Tomatoes.
I always buy a large punnet of salad tomatoes but not if they look pale and insipid, you want nice red ones, so if the punnets look no good just buy a good wodge of loose ones or a few packs of anything else that looks decent.

Onions.
Normally one large onion does the trick or 2 or 3 small ones.

So, here's the list:

Peppers, washed, de-seeded and cut in half.
Tomatoes, just wash them, you don't need to do anything else but if you want to remove the skins, slice through the skin, put them in a bowl and cover with boiling water for a minute. Drain them and the skins should just peel off.
Onion, peeled and cut in half.
Couple of stock cubes dissolved water. I put them in a cup, pour some boiling water over them and they will be dissolved by the time you need them. I use whatever I happen to have in the cupboard but they are usually vegetable ones.
Olive oil.
Freshly ground black pepper.
Salt (I don't use salt but you may want to).
Italian seasoning or mixed herbs or fresh rosemary or anything else you fancy.

In a large roasting dish put all the peppers, tomatoes and the onion. Drizzle some olive oil all over everything then grind some black pepper over, sprinkle with salt and the herbs.

Pop the roasting dish into a Moderately hot oven (that's 400 degrees Fahrenheit, 200 degrees Celsius or gas mark 6) for 30 or 40 minutes. Check that the onion is tender all through with a knife or a fork, if the onion is done, everything else will be. If it's not done keep checking every 5 minutes till it's done. If things have overcooked and the onion starts to go a bit black don't despair.

When it's all cooked, put everything into a blender including the dissolved stock cubes and blend for a good few minutes then press through a sieve over a large pan with the back of a spoon. You'll need to blend in batches as there's quite a lot. When everything has been blended and sieved make sure you give the pan a good stir. This doesn't need to be over any heat, the soup should be hot enough to eat, if not just heat it in the pan until you get the right temperature.

One point here is that I do not press everything through a sieve, I just blend until I can tell the tomato skins have been obliterated. I can just imagine peoples comments though if I recommended you do the same thing, 'hmm tomato skin soup, at least it's full of fibre!'

Serve this with fresh crusty bread, hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

This should serve 4 people with maybe some left over, I know my dogs like this too!

Summary: If you're like me and like quick nutritious home cooked food try this soup.