oven roasted tomato and capsicum soup

oven roasted tomato and capsicum soup

• 16 Jan 2013

Australia has been sweltering this summer with 40ºC temperatures. My usual recipes doesn't appeal in the heat so I've been trying out a few new things. 



As it's summer in Sydney, tomatoes are at their peak. I was going to make oven roasted tomato soup but the capsicums looked so nice, I added one to the mix.  



It's a fairly simple soup - just oven roasted vegetables pureed with some stock. Oven roasting vegetables really intensifies their flavour and as I'm an early bird, I roasted these veggies in the morning before the heat of the day.



As it was so hot last weekend, I couldn't bear the thought of hot soup so I served the soup chilled. I shredded some basil, stirred it through the soup and and it was delicious. 



In winter it would be lovely with some small pasta cooked in the soup, lightened with a dash of milk or cream then topped with grated parmesan cheese before serving.

Here's the recipe for you.
Oven Roasted Tomato and Capsicum Soup (serves 4)
printable recipe
1 kg vine ripened tomatoes 
1 large red capsicum

2-3 garlic cloves, unpeeled

1 large brown onion

Olive oil

Salt and black pepper

2 cups stock (vegetable or chicken)

fresh basil

Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Half the tomatoes and quarter the capsicum. Place the tomatoes cut side up onto a lightly oiled baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Tuck the garlic cloves and capsicum around the tomatoes and place the tray in the oven. Roast the vegetables for about 45 minutes or until the edges of the capsicum are blackened.

Allow the vegetables to cool a little before peeling the skins from the capsicum, the tomatoes and the garlic. Roughly chop the vegetables and set aside.

Peel and coarsely chop the onion. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a medium saucepan and gently fry the onion until softened but not coloured. Add the roughly chopped tomatoes, capsicum and garlic to the pan with the stock. Bring the soup to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer the soup for 30 minutes to allow the flavours to blend.

Remove the pan from the heat and puree the soup using a stick blender. I left the soup with a few chunky pieces of tomato for some texture. Season to taste before serving. If serving the soup cold, coarsely shred some basil and add to the soup just before serving.

See you all again next week,

Jillian