Roast red pepper soup

Posted by on June 3, 2009 at 3:41 pm in Health & Lifestyle, Other Stories

 

Article By: Henrie Geyser

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This lovely rich soup bursts with the flavour of the Mediterranean and its tailormade for cold winter days.

Because it contains a good quantity of olive oil, lots of herbs and a generous helping of garlic it’s quite rich and we often have it as main course with chunks of crusty bread.

It’s a welcome change from the run-of-the-mill soups and you can upgrade it very nicely with the addition of a couple of prawns, a few tubes of calamari and a few fresh mussels.

For the basic pepper and aubergine soup you need:

Ingredients:

  • 2 aubergines
  • 150ml olive oil
  • 1 head of garlic
  • 4 large red peppers
  • 200g sliced celery
  • 1 onion, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 1 litre vegetable stock
  • 50g plain flour
  • 1 pint tomato puree or tomato cocktail
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • 4 Bay leaves
  • 1 sprig of thyme

    Instructions:

    Preheat oven to 240°C. Slice the aubergines down the middle lengthwise, drizzle with olive oil and give them a good twirl of salt and black pepper and put them in the oven.

    Slice the red peppers in half and place them skin up and roast them with the aubergines.

    Place the whole head of garlic, unpeeled in the oven with the aubergine and peppers and roast it for 20 minutes.

    Remove aubergine, peppers and garlic from oven.

    Peel and core the red peppers and cut them into strips.

    Cut the aubergine into small chunks and squeeze out the softened garlic.

    Heat the remaining olive oil in a pan and add the onion and celery and sweat until soft.

    In a separate saucepan heat the stock and add the sprig of thyme, parsley, basil, oregano and bay leaves.

    Stir the flour into the tomato cocktail, garlic and vegetables, then gradually whisk in the heated stock.

    Bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer, stirring continuously. Remove the sprig of thyme and the bay leaves, taste for seasoning (this soup likes lots of black pepper) and serve immediately in heated soup bowls.

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