5 Days Of Soup: Roasted Red Pepper + Tomato Soup

A Friday night in our house could easily be Monday night's twin. It's a school day for CJ and work days for both me and the mister. While I'm in charge of dropping CJ off, Mr. S picks him up and by the time everyone gets home and shakes off the week, we are just ready to pour a glass of deep red wine and make a cuddly, cozy dinner.  

So tonight I'm rounding out our week of soup with something that warms me from the inside out. A Friday-night-that-looks-like-Monday-night kind of dinner. Side note: this is best served with ooey-gooey grilled cheese that may or may not have pickles stuffed inside. Here at Flat 521. They may.

Roasted Red Pepper + Tomato Soup

1 large fennel bulb, peeled
1 red onion
2 red bell peppers, halved & seeded
1lb tomatoes
4 garlic cloves, in their skins
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 sprig of fresh rosemary, leaves only
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp nigella seeds
14 fl oz passata
1 quart vegetable stock
1 red chile pepper, split & seeded
salt & freshly ground pepper
handful of fennel leaves

1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the fennel & onion in wedges. Slice a cross into the base of each tomato & squeeze the juice & seeds into a bowl. Strain the juice & set aside.

2) Line a roasting pan with parchment paper & add the fennel, onion, peppers, tomatoes & garlic cloves. Sprinkle over the sugar, drizzle the olive oil & scatter the rosemary on top. Roast the vegetables for 1 hour or until the tomatoes are soft. Cool the vegetables before peeling the blackened skin from the peppers. Peel the garlic & discard the skins.

3) Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan & toss in the fennel & nigella seeds, swirling them around for a few seconds. Pour over the passata, the stock & the reserved tomato juice & bring to a boil. Add the roasted vegetables, pop the chile peppers into the pan & season with salt & pepper to taste. Half cover with a lid & simmer for about 45 minutes.

4) Using a blender, process the soup until smooth & press through a sieve. Reheat, re-season & finish with a sprinkling of fennel leaves.

There you have it, five days of soup. And with that, I'm all cooked out. Delivery, please! I'm looking forward to getting back to regular stuff next week, like pictures from my Montreal trip!

I'm curious, did any of you try the recipes? Do you plan on trying any? Which ones?

P.S. In case you missed it, Days One, Two, Three & Four. And these recipes are just the tip of the iceberg. There are plenty more here if you are some sort of overachiever and want to turn my measly five days of soup into 50 days or something. Wink!

{Photo credit: Tartelette}