Roasted Tomato Soup w Red Bell Pepper

an oldie but a goodie

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A simple soup for when weather the weather gets chilly (because we don’t get cold in Houston). My family’s preference is to pair the soup with crusty bread as opposed to grilled cheese; the bread functions like soup croutons and I love the texture it provides when the bread soaks in the soup while you dip and munch. Serve with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, fresh cracked pepper and a sprig of fresh basil. Also serve with your protein of choice on the side. This recipe serves 4 as a main and 6 if being served as a side dish.

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Ingredients

Roasted Tomato Soup

• 2 pounds tomatoes (I prefer tomatoes on the vine)

• 1 red bell pepper¹

• 1 yellow onion

• 5-6 cloves of garlic

• 3-4 cups of chicken stock (using better than bullion)²

• extra virgin olive oil

• salt

• black pepper

• dried oregano

• crushed red pepper

• fresh basil

• sugar

• balsamic vinegar, for drizzling

Garlic Bread

• fresh bread loaf

• minced garlic

• 4 tablespoons of butter

• grated mozzarella

• salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. De-stem and quarter your tomatoes, red bell pepper and onions. Peel (and smash, if you wish) your garlic cloves. Toss with evoo, salt and pepper, add to a ceramic baking pan and bake for an hour. Check occasionally to make sure your veggies char too much. If they start to blacken too much, just stir the veggies around.³

2. Once the veg is done roasting, add to a heavy bottomed pot and add 3 cups of chicken stock (reserve the remaining 1 cup). Blend with an immersion blender (or transfer to a blender and blend - add back to the pot once blended).

3. Let simmer for a few minutes and taste. At this stage, add the remaining cup of chicken stock if you feel like you want the soup to be thinner and continue to simmer.

4. Once simmered, you may want to add some sugar if your tomatoes are on the sour side. Season with salt, pepper, crushed red pepper and dried oregano to taste. Add some fresh basil and blend again.

5. Toast some garlic bread by combining minced garlic, salt and softened butter together and slathering onto some crusty bread. Optionally sprinkle with mozzarella.

1. If you watch the accompanying video on instagram, you’ll see that I used a slightly larger red bell pepper. I am okay with the extra the peppery flavor it provides, but my husband would prefer that I use one on the smaller side, so keep that in mind.

2. Use vegetable stock (better than bullion has an incredible veg base) if serving for vegetarian friends.

3. At this stage, you can make whatever you choose to serve on the side. I served this with some meatballs; I don’t have a recipe to share (yet), so feel free to use your fav recipe.