Hearty Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

This preparation is adapted from one of my Family Circle soup books with some infusion from Jaimie Oliver's tomato soup recipe in which he uses roasted red peppers.

I particularly like this version of tomato soup with the roasted peppers as it adds more depth and sweetness into the flavor of the soup as opposed to a straight, direct- in-your-face sour tang you get from using mainly fresh tomatoes.  The addition of avocados for that extra creaminess was inspired by the tales of an old friend who had her soup served with sliced avocados in one of her trips to the US.

Coupled with some pesto bread (see http://joopuseats.blogspot.com/2011/01/pesto-bread.html for the pesto bread), this dish makes for a hearty, wholesome meal rich with lycopene and antioxidants.

Recipe (Serves 5-6) :

Ingredients for grilling/roasting (A):-

1 kg of ripe red tomatoes

2 large red capsicums or red peppers

1 bulb of garlic

1 medium size onion

For cooking:

1 dried bay leave

600 ml of chicken stock/broth or vegetable stock/broth

2-3 tablespoons of grapeseed oil or olive oil

For garnishing:

1 ripe avocado 

Heavy Cream

The mechanics of it :

1) Coat the ingredients in (A) above in some olive oil and grill in a preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes until it looks like this..

2) The red sweet peppers may be grilled until the skin is black, then placed to rest in a bowl before peeling off the skins, removing the seeds and chopping up the flesh. 

3) Remove the skins of the onions and garlic and chop those up too.

4) Place the tomatoes in a bowl and chop them up too using a pair of kitchen scissors (it's less messy this way as opposed to trying to chop them up on a chopping board - and risk splashing the mushy juices everywhere)

5) Warm up a pot with 3 tablespoons of oil, add a pinch of salt and slowly fry the soft pulps of the chopped up roasted garlic, onions and red sweet peppers slowly for about 3 minutes.

6) Then add the roughly chopped up tomatoes and cook until you get a blended mushy mixture.

7) Add the chicken or vegetable broth and a bay leave - simmer for 15 minutes.

8) Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

Remove and discard the bay leave. Blend well with a handblender until desired consistency is achieved. Place unto stove to reheat, taste and season once again if necessary.

Serve with sliced avocados, a twirl of heavy cream and sprinkle generously with some freshly grated black pepper - and voila!

Tip: To prevent the avocados from discoloring, squeeze some lemon over the avocados.