Roasted Tomato and Pepper Soup Recipe

With lots of late summer tomatoes ripening in my garden, there are few things I love to do with them more than to roast them and make a delicious warming tomato soup. Roasting the vegetables in this recipe gives them a sweeter, more intense flavour, and helps to make this soup a rich comforting treat! It also means that you don’t need to add any sugar to the recipe, which is always a health bonus! This is a perfect way of using up a late summer tomato glut, and you could even freeze portions for enjoying later in the year.

While it’s not quite soup weather yet, using tomatoes and peppers give a vibrant summer feel to this soup recipe, making it perfect for late summer dinners with slice of crusty bread. It’s light, but still warming to counteract the cooler evenings as the nights start to draw in. This said, it can also bring a ray of sunshine into chilly winter nights, and this is where the hint of heat from the chilli comes into its own. It will warm you through and make you smile, no matter how cold or rainy it is outside! Make it more filling by serving with croutons or a hot toasted sandwich to keep winter chills at bay. This is a soup that will definitely do both.

Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Soup Recipe
Serves 2, cooking time 1 hour

Ingredients
4 large tomatoes, cut into quarters
2 red/yellow peppers, cut into large chunks
1 onion, peeled and cut into quarters
2 garlic cloves, crushed in their skins
400g tin chopped tomatoes
500ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 roasted peppers (from a jar, optional)
1 tsp pesto
1 tbsp. tomato puree
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp mixed Italian herbs
½ tsp hot chilli powder (optional)

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Add the prepared fresh tomatoes, peppers, onion and garlic to a roasting tray, and drizzle on the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, mix to coat all veg, and arrange in a single layer.
Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the veg is soft and the skins will peel away.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool, then carefully remove the skins from the tomatoes, peppers and garlic cloves.
Add them to a large saucepan, along with the rest of the ingredients.
Cover, and bring the soup to a boil, then turn down and simmer for 30 minutes.
Remove from the heat and blend until smooth.
Taste to check the seasoning, and adjust as necessary. Serve with fresh bread, chunky croutons, and a few fresh basil leaves if you have them.