Eat: Oven Roasted Tomato & Red Pepper Soup

Vegetarian, Vegan

Home-made soup is just the best - easy, healthy and delicious.  Red peppers and tomatoes are two of my favourite veggies and roasting them rather than the traditional stove top cooking method brings out all the sweetness and flavours, to make a rich and velvety soup.

The Recipe

2 large onions, peeled and cut into chunks
4 whole cloves of garlic, unpeeled
500g large ripe tomatoes, cut into quarters
2 large red peppers, deseeded and cut into chunks
2 tbsp hemp oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp each dried thyme and rosemary, or a few sprigs of fresh
1 litre of hot vegetable stock
Black pepper to taste 

Preheat the oven [220C, 400F, Gas Mk 7].  Put the vegetables and garlic in a large roasting tray, whisk together the oil and balsamic vinegar then pour over the veggies.  Make sure the veggies are well-coated, like tossing a salad.  Season with black pepper and scatter over the herbs.  Roast for 25 - 30 minutes.  

When the vegetables are cooked, remove from the oven and place into a deep bowl.  Pick out the roasted garlic cloves and slip off the skins, then return the peeled cloves to the bowl.  

Using a hand blender, puree the vegetables until smooth, adding a little of the stock at a time until the soup is the consistency of cream.  Have a taste and add a little more seasonning if you need it.

Sprinkle on some fresh herbs and serve with chunks of wholemeal bread.  

Annie x x