Red Pepper & Tomato Soup

Travel Gourmet

Dec 31

The phrase 'out with the old and in with the new' came to mind as I made this soup - a phrase often heard at New Year, so very appropriate for today, New Year's Eve. In my case I was taking some rather sad, ageing red peppers out of the fridge and before they were past saving, adding some new tomatoes to make a soup. Of course, New Year and bringing in the new is often associated with intentions: New Year's Resolutions! So I guess the 'bring in the new' phrase is a call to make those resolutions; throw out the old and do things better in the coming year. But I read an article today that urged us not to dismiss all those things we did in 2023 in a negative way, but merely focus on what comes next: do we want to do things a bit differently? What do we want to do more of? Do we want to give more attention to something we started and expand? Take it further? Think positively!

If you're going to make resolutions, then it's wise to make realistic ones. Push yourself a bit, sure; consider doing something new or doing certain things in a different way - but give yourself challenges that are achievable. Don't set yourself up to fail. And if you create a long list, well the reality of this is you may not manage them all this coming year. Just don't give yourself a hard time about it.

If you're someone who thinks of yourself - or are called by others - a 'foodie', it's quite easy to give yourself a hard time. You think things can only be done in a certain 'perfect' way; you shy away from shortcuts. And there can be fun in this - if you're a 'foodie' then you delight in finding the best meals, the best ingredients, taking time to cook things in the best way you can. But compromise is sometimes a good thing. There are times when it's appropriate. For instance, with this soup: I've always said I don't like stock cubes and if I don't have home-made stock to hand, then I'll just use water when making a soup. Mmmm. Okay, so now I'll 'admit' that I keep a box or two of King Soba's organic instant miso soup in my cupboard, and in the winter when I want something quick, easy and warming at lunchtime, I'll have one in a mug with a sandwich or just some good fresh bread and cheese.

Then one day, I decided to add one of the packets to some soup I was making and it worked well. And when I added it to a carrot soup I made recently and shared with my son, he noted the nice earthy, umami flavour the miso soup added. So adding these packets has become quite routine now we've entered 'winter lunchtime soup mode' and I'm making soup a lot. I only add one packet and more water than making it up as a soup on its own, but there's enough of its flavour to make a difference. And thus is was added today.

Red Pepper & Tomato Soup - about 3 servings

1 medium or 2 small red onions
1 stick celery
1 large baking potato
3 Romano red peppers
300g tomatoes
1 clove garlic, grated
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a few sprigs fresh thyme (or a teaspoon dried)
extra virgin olive oil
1 packet of instant miso soup (or home-made stock or water)
a little single cream (optional)

Peel and chop the onion into small pieces and place them in a large, shallow roasting dish. Add the other vegetables as you go. Cut the celery into small slices (about 2cm). Peel the potato and cut into 2cm cubes. Cut the peppers in half lengthways, take out the seeds and chop. Cut the tomatoes into pieces roughly the same size as the other vegetables - mine were quite small so I cut them into quarters. I like to grate garlic for dishes like this - on a fine grater you get a garlic 'cream' and add this to the vegetables. Sprinkle over about a teaspoon of sea salt; grate on some black pepper. Now add the thyme. Then pour over a good glug - about 2-3 tablespoons - of extra virgin olive oil and stir well but carefully. Put the dish in a 200C/180 Fan/Gas 6 oven for about 30 minutes, giving it a good stir halfway through.

When the vegetables are nicely cooked remove from the oven. Make up the soup in a jug with hot water. Then transfer the cooked vegetables to a saucepan. Pour a little of the 'stock' into the pan you cooked the vegetables in and over a medium heat, stir round to scrape up all those gorgeous caramelised bits. Then pour into the saucepan with the vegetables. Pour over more 'stock' so the vegetables are covered (you can always add more later depending on the consistency you want).

Using a hand blender, blend the soup until it's well combined and smooth. I had some open single cream in the fridge and decided to add some of this too. Check seasoning.

It had been a spontaneous idea to make the soup with the peppers and it worked really well. And it sorted out the problem of those ageing peppers without throwing them out!