Roasted Tomato, Pepper and Lentil Soup

Now that the cold weather has arrived soup season has definitely arrived. There is nothing more comforting than a lovely bowl of hot soup on a cold day. I love it! 

What I love most about soups is how versatile they are. You can add so many different ingredients, use different flavour combinations, no one homemade soup is ever the same in my house. One of my favourite combinations has to be tomato and pepper so when I saw a variety of different tomatoes and mini peppers reduced to clear the other day there was no way I was going to leave them! I went straight home, got the soup maker out and made this delicious soup.

I find that when tomatoes and peppers have been baked they develop an irresistible sweetness that when blended up makes an incredible bowl of goodness. Tomato soup is also a firm favourite with the children the beauty of soups is that they are having a lot of goodness without always knowing about it, they are perfect for sneaking in extra veg!

This is what I did...

Roasted Tomato, Pepper and Lentil Soup

Ingredients

450g large, on the vine tomatoes

250g Ambervines ripened tomatoes (yellow tomatoes)

190g sweet mini peppers, halved

1 large shallot, chopped

2 garlic cloves

500mls vegetable stock

1tsp thyme

Salt and pepper

Balsamic vinegar to drizzle

Olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C

1 - Place the tomatoes and peppers in an oven proof dish, drizzle with olive oil and place in the centre of the preheated oven and roast for 30 minutes

2 - Remove the dish from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes

3 - Chop the shallot and place in a large pan and drizzle over a little olive oil, place over a medium heat and gently fry until the onions start to caramelise, when you get brown stuck on the bottom of the pan they are ready, scrape the brown bits as they add so much flavour!

4 - Add the whole garlic cloves, the roasted tomatoes and peppers, pouring in any juices from the dish

5 - Pour over the vegetable stock and season with the thyme, salt and pepper

6 - Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes

7 - Leave to cool slightly before blitzing in a blender until you have a smooth soup

8 - Drizzle over some balsamic vinegar before serving and adding a little black pepper

This soup is a real bowl of pure comfort. This recipe made enough soup for about six bowls, I had enough to take to work for lunch and even have some bagged up and frozen for another day. 

Serve on it's own or with some crusty bread and cheese but most importantly, take some time out to enjoy a bowlful of goodness!

Enjoy x

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