Next to my children and possibly my husband, soup is my first love! As a child my mother fed me cans of Heinz tomato soup and some of her own delicious home made concoctions.
My love of making soup came about later in life. I was in my early 20's and desperately longed for a homely bowl of Carrot and Coriander soup, so I purchased a fairly expensive tub of soup from a well known supermarket (other supermarkets were also available and may have had better soups at the time). Packaged as a home made soup, I had high expectations. However a few hours later, I felt anything but comforted. Sure, it wasn't tinned soup, but it also wasn't even close to a home made soup. I wanted some tasty soup and gosh darn it no one was providing me with any. This was not going to do!!!
So realising that I was possibly being a little (read a lot) unreasonable, I knew it was time to venture upon a soup quest. A quest to create tasty homely soups for me (Just me! Only me, No one else is getting any!). And so it began! Yes, I started simple with Carrot and coriander (someone had to satisfy my demands). But after learning the basics, it all started to come together really easily. To this day, my favourite soup to make is roasted red pepper and tomato soup. There is something very satisfying about stripping the insides and skin off the roasted peppers. I love the rich spice to this soup. And my favourite soup to eat is my spiced carrot and lentil soup. Closely followed by Broccoli and Stilton.
My soup adventure never really got any momentum until my children were born. I made soup, but it was still mostly me that ate it (My husband wasn't that keen on soup). Once the kids were here, soup became a quick fix while trying to juggle work, kids and generally busy schedules. I'm a night owl, so would happily stay up until the wee small hours making batches of soup. My daughter now loves my cream of tomato, and my husband loves the roasted pepper and tomato, now that he has found a place in his heart for soup.
I think we have all had bad experiences with soup. Most of us will have ordered a delicious sounding soup from a deli, only to take a first sip from the paper cup to discover salty water wishing with all its might to be soup! To be honest I struggle to eat Leek and Potato soup to this day because of this. Leek and potato that tastes like it was made with one leek, one potato, 15ltr's of water and 10 tablespoons of salt! NO THANK YOU!
So why am I ranting on about soup? Well I would have thought that was fairly obvious by now. I hate soup of course! What? No I'm just messing with you! I want to share my love of soup, and a few recipes to boot! So, I thought I would start with my husbands favourite, Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato. Hope you like it as much as he does!
Ingredients
Three Medium Red Bell Peppers
10 fresh Plum tomatoes, skinned or two tins of good quality plum tomatoes
1ltr of Veg or Chicken Stock
1 Large yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 large (or two small) sticks of celery
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
Wash your red peppers and place in a large baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt then roast in the oven until slightly charred (around 40 minutes).
Finely chop the onion and saute in a large pot with a little olive oil or combination of olive oil and butter (my preference) until translucent and soft.
Once the roasted peppers are slightly cooled, remove the skins and innards and add the roasted peppers, tomatoes, celery, crushed garlic and vegetable stock.
Simmer for 40 minutes then turn off the heat and blend until completely smooth. Taste for seasoning.
A little dash of cream when serving is a special treat.
Serve with crusty bread! Although I do rather enjoy this soup with lots of melba toast and butter.
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