As much as I love to cook I love the convenience of good quality ready-to-eat meals. Trader Joes roasted tomato red pepper soup being one of them. I like to keep a couple in my pantry along with some of our other favorites. Having said that on this occasion I thought of making my own with my homegrown tomatoes that are over flowing, this seemed lime a great idea.
I am so happy with the recipe and I hope you love it too. The recipe is inspired from the list of ingredients on the back of the box, I did sub a few ingredients to keep it simple, there is no cream though a little of cream always makes things yummier. I blitzed the roasted tomatoes until smooth and thick in a high speed blender to achieve the same consistency as a bisque, (you can totally strain at this point if your blender can’t to the job for that velvety texture). It’s creamy and so good without being heavy.
Slow roasting the tomatoes intensifies the flavor by concentrating the natural sugars in the fruit and reducing the tartness of the tomatoes. Simply add a good generous drizzle of olive oil and seasoning. Then blend with herbs, a little veggie broth, store bought jarred tomatoes, (you can roast peppers along with the tomatoes if you wish). it’s that simple. For fun I made some quinoa wafers making this bisque substantial for a complete meal.
Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup, SERVES 4
Ingredients
- 2.5 lbs tomatoes any variety, you can use upto 3 lbs
- 1 onion halved and sliced
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 14 oz jarred roasted red peppers
- 5-7 cloves garlic peeled
- 3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt as needed
- ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper
- a little maple syrup or honey to balance the flavor
- GARNISH
- Quinoa Wafers, recipe follows
- Herbs, basil, dill chopped as needed
- fresh cracked black pepper, optional
- cream, optional
- QUINOA WAFERS
- 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F. Depending the kind of tomatoes halve or quarter tomatoes, leave cherry tomatoes whole.
- Spread the tomatoes on a parchment-lined baking sheet with the sliced onion and the garlic cloves peeled and separated. Drizzle with the olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper. Bake for 30-40 minutes to your desired softness.
- Heat up veggie stock in a pot on the stove.
- Transfer the roasted tomatoes, onions, garlic, entire jar of roasted red pepper, warm veggie stock to a high speed blender (you may need to do this in batches). alternatively place all the ingredients in a stock pot and use an immersion blender to puree the soup directly in the pot.
- Use a mesh sieve to strain the soup into another pot or large container, using a wooden spoon to squeeze as much liquid out as possible. Discard solids left behind. This will result in a very smooth bisque.
- Stir in heavy cream (1/4 cup). Taste and season with salt and pepper, if necessary.Serve hot with quinoa wafers, fresh basil, black pepper and cream if desired.
- QUINOA WAFERS: to make the wafers mix cooked quinoa, parmesan cheese and black pepper in a bow. Place the mixture on a parchment lined baking paper, spreading it even and thinly. Bake in a 400 °F oven for 7-10 minutes till it gets lightly golden keeping a close eye, this burns very quickly.
- Cool before breaking into pieces. Alternatively you can the place 1 tablespoon mounts on the baking tray, the cheese will melt and spread like cookies.
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