Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

Recipe Image

This is our take on that all-time favourite, cream of tomato soup.  We’ve removed the dairy and added a kick, leaving all the taste and goodness intact!

 

Serves 2

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

 

Wheat Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Vegetarian

Ingredients 

  • 1 tablespoon groundnut oil
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 4 medium tomatoes finely chopped
  • 1 red pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 1 small clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
  • ½ red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
  • Small handful of basil
  • 2 tablespoons tomato puree
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 500ml vegetable stock
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 tomato, peeled, deseeded and roughly chopped

To Serve

  • 2 teaspoons basil pesto

Jennifers Tips

Don’t panic when you see an instruction in a recipe to peel and deseed a tomato! Simply cut a small cross in the bottom of each tomato, then drop them into a bowl of boiled water. Leave them for 10 seconds, remove with a slotted spoon, and you’ll see that the skin has started to peel where you made the cross. Pull the corners of the skin and they will slip away from the flesh easily. Then simply quarter the skinned tomatoes, and squeeze them firmly over a bowl, which will release the seeds. Easy!

Photo and recipe taken from The Balance Diet Cookbook.

Preparation
  • Heat the oil in a large saucepan, over a medium heat.  Add the onion,
  • tomatoes, pepper, garlic, chilli and basil, and stir to mix .  Cover, and leave to sauté for 5 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally to prevent sticking.
  • Add the tomato puree, vinegar and the stock, and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, prepare the additional pepper and tomatoes. Grill the pepper slices under a hot grill, turning occasionally, until blackened.  (Alternatively, hold a whole pepper over a gas flame, turning constantly, until completely charred). Place the blackened slices in a plastic bag and hold closed, shaking, for a couple of minutes.  The steam created will enable you to slip the charred skins easily off.   Dice the peppers and mix with the tomatoes.
  • Blend the soup until smooth, using a hand-held blender or by transferring to a food processor.
  • Add the roasted pepper and tomato mix, so that you have a smooth soup studded with chunks of grilled pepper and fresh tomato.
  • Ladle the soup into warmed bowls, garnishing each serving with a teaspoon of pesto. Serve immediately.