Tomato & Red Pepper Soup

This soup is absolutely delicious, pleasing to the eye and the blend of flavors is just perfect! It is a great alternative for the regular tomato soup, it is easy to make, super light and very healthy.
It contains a lot of red, sweet pepper, tomatoes and plenty of garlic. The peppers, tomatoes and garlic are baked, which gives this soup a great aroma of grilled pepper and baked garlic, which is so much milder and sweeter in taste than any other form of garlic. I serve this soup with “bryndza”, which is a cheese made from sheep's milk, but you can serve it with any other sheep or goat cheese, as long as it is not too strong or too dry. For that extra crunch I add roasted pumpkin seeds, which have a great flavor that goes very well with the soup and the cheese.

Let’s get started!

U need (serves 5-6)

4 nice, large sweet red peppers

6 ripe tomatoes

12 cloves of garlic (unpeeled)

1 onion

1 small red chili pepper (optional)

Fresh or dried thyme

1-1½ l. of vegetable stock

200 grams of “bryndza” cheese (or other goat/sheep cheese)

A handful of roasted pumpkin seeds

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

How to make it

Start by cutting the top out of the peppers and cleaning the seeds and membranes out. Cut the peppers into 4-6 pieces each (along the length). Cut the tomatoes into 4 pieces each. Take a baking tray and put a sheet of baking paper on it. Put the cut up peppers and tomatoes on the baking tray, add the (unpeeled!) cloves of garlic. Season with thyme, salt and pepper and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Put it in the oven at 180-200°C for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime, chop up the onion and the chili pepper (the chili pepper is optional – it makes the soup slightly spicy). Heat up some olive oil in a soup pan and slowly fry (stirring) the onion with the chili pepper for about 5 minutes. Then add the stock and let it all boil gently on a small fire.

Check if the tomatoes and peppers are done. As soon as the peppers start turning slightly black – take it all out. Take the skins off (both peppers and tomatoes). They should come off really easily. Throw the tomatoes and peppers into the stock and squeeze the garlic out of the skins into the pan as well. Give it a stir and let everything boil gently for about 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, roast the pumpkin seeds, using either a frying pan or in the oven. They are ready once they start making a popping sound.

The final step is to puree the soup thoroughly (using a blender) until you obtain a          perfectly smooth, velvety texture.

Pour the soup into bowls and throw in the crumbled cheese and sprinkle with the            roasted pumpkin seeds.

Bon appétit!