Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup

4 red bell peppers sliced in half and cored
1 medium onion roughly chopped
3 medium cloves of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
200g or one medium potato diced
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato purée
1 Jalapeño Pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder (optional)
1.5 l chicken or veg stock
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Removing the skins from the peppers can be fiddly but so worth it. If you can find them, you can buy roasted red peppers with the skins removed. It will cut down most of the prep time for this recipe. Freezes well in portions.

1. Put the cored and halved red peppers under a medium grill/broiler for about 10 mins or until the skins are blackened. Remove, place in a plastic bag and set aside for 10 mins. The plastic bag helps loosen and soften skins so they are easier to remove. Peel off the blackened skins and slice roughly.

2. Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onions and soften over a medium heat for 5 mins. Add garlic, jalapeño and chilli and continue to cook for a couple of mins, stirring all the time so it does not burn. Add the potatoes and sauté for a further two mins.

3. Add the stock, the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée and bell peppers. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 mis or until the potato is fork tender.

4. Blend with a hand blender or wait to cool and blend with a regular blender.


Serving Size: Makes 6 bowls of soup

Number of Servings: 6

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user SKINICOOK.