by Camilla Ridley
This really is the easiest, and one of the tastiest soups ever and perfect for warming yourself up on a cold winter day.
Camilla wears a Milly shirt dress in Amethyst State Room floral printed silk by Liberty of London
There's something about soup on a cold winter day that just warms you up and gives you a boost. And you really can't beat making your own from fresh ingredients for that wonderful, full rich flavour. It's full of goodness and really is so simple.
To serve 4
4 good size red peppers
8 tomatoes, I prefer the vine ripened variety
Good Olive oil
Some vegetable stock or boullion
2 cloves of garlic
Salt and pepper to flavour
A small blender/ food processor
place the peppers and tomatoes in a good size roasting tray and cover them with a generous glug of olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper. Roast them in the oven for approximately 30-40 minutes at 180 until the skins are a rich colour and starting to turn. Remove them from the heat and cover the tray in a layer of foil and set it aside to cool. The foil slows the cooling process and retains moisture within the tin which helps the skins soften and become easier to remove.
Once the peppers and tomatoes have sufficiently cooled to handle (after about 10 - 15 minutes) start to peel away the skin and stalks, retaining all the the flesh. I also remove the seeds from the peppers but keep them for the tomatoes. Once everything is peeled and the seeds removed I add all of the flesh into the blender with another generous glug of olive oil. I also add two whole peeled raw cloves of garlic into the mix, which brings a bit of flavour and is great for seeing off colds. I also add vegetable stock at this point. If you've made fresh, brownie points to you, otherwise a tablespoon of Boullion powder or half a vegetable stock cube are fine but add a couple of tablespoons of water to help integrate this into the mix.I then blend the whole thing up until the texture is consistent and relatively smooth. You then simply transfer the mixture to a pan to heat before serving and season to taste with salt and pepper and sprinkle with a few fresh herbs and a drizzle of olive oil. It couldn't be any easier and is incredibly tasty, especially if you serve it with a nice fresh Focaccia bread. I particularly like the rosemary, garlic and sea salt variety. Bon appetit!
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