Roasted red pepper & rosemary soup
While autumn has very much settled in to stay, our Riverford veg box still occasionally throws up some red peppers from the continent and we'd be lying if we said we weren’t more than a little chuffed about it. We find that roasting the red peppers until rich, sweet and smokey brings their flavour into a more autumnal tone, particularly when combined with heaps of cold-busting garlic and woody winter rosemary.
With regards to the method this soup uses a speedy tray-roast as well as some action on the hob; alas this means it’s not a ‘one-pot-wonder’ but the dual approach is really key for achieving it’s fantastic depth and complexity of flavour.
Prep time: 10-15 mins
Cook time: 45 mins
This recipe makes 4 servings of soup.
Ingredients:
For the tray roast:
2 red onions
2 red peppers
6 cloves of garlic
16 cherry tomatoes or 4 vine tomatoes
1 tsp flakey sea salt
1 tsp sugar
4 sprigs of rosemary
1 red chilli
2 anchovies
4 tbsp olive oil
For the pot:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion
2 cloves garlic
1 stalk celery
2 tins chopped tomatoes
1 tin water
1 tsp flakey sea salt
1 tsp sugar
Method:
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and have an oven rack near the top.
Start by preparing the ingredients for the tray roast: peel and chop the red onions into thin half moons, remove the core from the peppers and roughly chop, peel and slice the garlic, roughly chop the tomatoes, chop the red chilli, and strip the rosemary leaves from the stalks.
Toss everything together with the anchovies, olive oil, sea salt and sugar, and spread evenly into an oven tray. Roast in the preheated oven for 25-30 mins, and open the oven half way through to allow the steam to escape. Things will char, caramelise, soften, and develop fantastic flavour.
Meanwhile, finely dice the brown onion, finely chop the celery, and peel and slice 2 cloves of garlic for the pot.
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat. Gently fry the onions, and after 5 minutes add the celery and garlic. Continue frying for 5 minutes until things are soft and translucent. Stir often.
Next add the chopped tomatoes along with a tin of water, 1 teaspoon of sea salt and 1 teaspoon of sugar and bring to a gentle simmer.
When your tray roast has had its 25-30 minutes remove from the oven and carefully transfer everything into the soup - both are scalding so do take care. If some roasted, crispy morsels are stuck to the tray, deglaze with a small splash of hot water and a whisk, and add this to the soup. These charred nuggets will have excellent flavour.
Gently simmer the full soup for 10 minutes to allow the flavours to harmonise and concentrate.
Turn off the heat and let it cool before blending.
We enjoy this one with nothing more than a generous drizzle of olive oil and a good hunk of sourdough.