Roasted red pepper soup
Red peppers, tomatoes, shallots, garlic and chilli are all heart healthy ingredients, especially when they are heated in a little olive oil. It tastes pretty good too!
Makes 4-6 servings
Ingredients
4 large red peppers, cut into four and deseeded4 large tomatoes, halved4 shallots, peeled and cut in half3 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped2 tbsp olive oil1 tbsp balsamic vinegar1 tsp dried thyme750ml low salt vegetable stock
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Place the peppers, tomatoes, shallots and garlic into a roasting tray and scatter with the finely chopped chilli. Drizzle with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with thyme.
Roast for 30-40 minutes or until the vegetables are softened and lightly charred, turning halfway though the cooking time
Remove the peppers from the roasting tin and put them in a large saucepan and set aside
Next, pour half of the vegetable stock into the roasting tin and place over a low heat. Stir and scrape with a wooden spoon to remove all the roasted scrummy bits from the bottom of the tin.
Now pour this mixture and the rest of the vegetable stock into the large saucepan with the pepper
Over a medium heat, bring to a gentle simmer then switch off the hob, remove from the heat and using a hand blender, whizz up the soup until lovely and smooth
If you want to make this into a creamy soup – feel free to add a swirl of low fat crème fraîche