Vegan Roasted Tomato and Capsicum Soup

Well here we are! 2nd day of June and I’m all ready to go with another blog post! YES!

I finally finished my course on Monday which means now, I’m an official chef! (Well… technically only after I complete an apprenticeship, but classes are done so I’m counting that as a win!) Since I’ve had a bit of extra time, I took my own advice and started preparing soups to freeze for winter. I spent yesterday preparing batches of four different soups:

• pesto chicken (http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/5-ingredient-pesto-chicken-soup-recipe/)
• red pepper and cauliflower (http://www.closetcooking.com/2013/11/creamy-roasted-red-pepper-and.html)
• pea (https://powerpuffpastry.wordpress.com/2016/02/28/vegan-pea-soup
• roasted tomato and capsicum (that’s the recipe I’ll be sharing with you today!)

This soup is ridiculously easy to prepare and tastes AMAZING. It is completely vegan and gets its creaminess through the addition of a sweet potato.

This recipe makes 6 generous or 8-10 small servings.

Ingredients:

• Vegetable oil (for roasting and frying in)
• 1.5 kg truss tomatoes (or any tomatoes that you like), cut into wedges
• 1 large (or 2 small) red capsicum
• 1 medium brown onion, diced
• 4 gloves garlic, finely sliced
• 1 medium sweet potato, cut into 1 cm cubes
• 1 heaped tbs tomato paste
• 125g sundried tomatoes, chopped
• 1 L vegetable stock
• 1 cup basil leaves
• Salt and pepper to season
• Chilli flakes, extra virgin olive oil and basil leaves for garnish *optional

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 250°C.
2. Roast tomatoes and whole capsicum in a dish lightly covered with vegetable oil until starting to darken on the top – this should take around 30 minutes.
3. Remove from the oven. Remove the skin off the capsicum and dice. Set aside with the tomatoes.
4. Put 2 tbs vegetable oil in a pot on medium heat. Sweat onions and garlic with the addition of some salt until starting to soften. Throw in the sweet potato and fry for 5 minutes. If the ingredients are getting stuck to the pot, add more oil a touch of stock to prevent burning.
5. Add in tomato paste and fry for a further 1 minute.
6. Add in sundried tomatoes, roasted tomatoes and roasted capsicum. Mix all ingredients and then add in all the stock.
7. Bring to the boil, add in the basil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer until sweet potato is tender.
8. Blend in batches or with a stick blender and season with salt and pepper.

I love having this soup SUPER hot with some bread, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a stack of chilli on top. In fact, if you’re a fan of spice, feel free to throw in some chopped red chillis during step 5 of the recipe (when you add the tomato paste) for an added kick!