Tomato, Chilli and Red Pepper Soup

Another lunchtime soup recipe to warm you up.

Tomato, Chilli and Red Pepper Soup

It made about a week’s worth of lunches for me.

Ingredients:

1/2 Red onion – diced

1/2 White onion - diced

1pt Hot Stock (I used chicken, but use what you prefer)

2 Cloves Garlic – chopped or 1tsp Garlic Puree

1tsp chilli powder

½tsp chilli flakes

1tbsp Fresh chopped basil or 1tsp dried basil

2 x 400g Tins Plum Tomatoes (Or 700g Passata)

1tbsp oil

2 Red Peppers - deseeded and diced

1 Red Chilli – deseeded and diced

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp Creme Fraiche or cream cheese

1. In a large, heavy pan fry the onion, pepper, chilli and garlic in the oil until soft. Add the chilli flakes and powder and stir to heat for a couple of minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes and mix well.
3. Pour in stock. Stir in the basil. Simmer gently for about 30 minutes. If the water reduces too much just top up with boiling water.
4. Remove from heat to cool slightly. Blend with either a hand held blender or a processor until creamy. Place back on the heat. Adjust seasoning and heat through. If you find it too thick at this stage add hot water or more stock until it suits you.
5. Before serving stir in some crème fraiche or cream cheese.

***The soup does freezer okay. But do this before you add the crème fraiche/ cream cheese.

Curried Winter Veg Soup

In an attempt to save some money and not be tempted by the M & S van that comes around work I decided to make some soup. (Queue an array of soup recipes!) On offer in Sainsbury’s was a winter vegetable selection pack comprising of a turnip, potatoes, onion and parsnips. So I thought it’d be a good base for a soup. The resulting effort was a Curried Vegetable Soup. You may want to adjust the seasonings – spices to taste.

Curried Winter Veg Soup

It made a week’s worth of lunches.

Ingredients:

1 Winter Veg Selection Pack (2 Parsnips, 1 Turnip, 2 Potatoes and 1 Onion)

2pts Hot Stock (I used chicken, but use what you prefer)

2 Cloves Garlic – chopped or 1tsp Garlic Puree

1tsp chilli powder

½tsp chilli flakes

3tsbp Curry Paste (I used a Tikka Masala one)

1tbsp oil

Salt and pepper to taste

3 tbsp Plain Yoghurt

1. Peel and chop the veg to roughly the same size chunks. In a large, heavy pan fry the onion and garlic in the oil until soft. Add the curry paste and stir to heat for a couple of minutes.
2. Add the veg and mix to coat with paste. Add chilli powder and flakes. Fry for a minute.
3. Pour in stock. Simmer gently until the veg is soft – this can take up to an hour. If the water reduces too much just top up with boiling water to just cover the veg.
4. Remove from heat to cool slightly. Blend with either a hand held blender or a processor until creamy. Place back on the heat. Adjust seasoning and heat through. If you find it too thick at this stage add hot water or more stock until it suits you.
5. Before serving stir in some yoghurt.

***The soup does freezer okay. But do this before you add the yoghurt.