ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday #6: Roasted Red Pepper & Blueberry Soup

Well, this 'creation' only came about because of one of my all too frequent kitchen mishaps, if not to say 'disasters'. - Tom thinks I should call this blog 'Zabeena's Kitchen Catastrophies', and I think he's got a point, tonight's 'blackened carrots' being a prime example (just think hazelnut macaroons - see 'Biscuit Bonanza' - and replace 'attic' with 'ebay', and you get the general idea).

In this instance, I had to make a quick U-turn when the 'soup' I had de-frosted turned out to be apple puree. (Do you not label your frozen food?!! -- I hear you ask - eh ... no...; the labels kept coming off, and most of the time, I do know what I'm de-frosting...).

So, a dead-easy, dead quick soup had to be invented (as SOUP it had to be -- diets always turn me into a Homo Soupiens®© - please quote me if you want to use this expression! -, because soups are so satisfying even when they don't contain many calories).

I took a carton of passata, whizzed a few roasted red peppers with onions, garlic, basil and a handful of blueberries. This I added to the passata, alongside Worcestershire sauce, a dash of tabasco and a dash of jalapeno relish, salt and pepper. I then heated it all up, while the sunflower seed roll was being browned in the oven. (Still the one where the door has to be kept shut with the stepladders, oh yes...)

Quick, easy and effective. Just how I like things.

For those of you who like to cook things completely from scratch, here is my Mum's recipe for a wonderful Irish Tomato Soup - to which, I daresay, one could add roasted red peppers and blueberry quite easily.
(What exactly is supposed to be Irish about it, I don't know... there aren't even potatoes in it..., sorry, stereotypes, stereotypes..., nah, sorry, no time fopr a discussion tonight...)

Ingredients

500g very ripe tomatoes
1 medium sized onion
4 TBsp of butter
3 TBsp of flour
3/4 l stock
3 TBsp of tomato puree
1/8 l milk
1 Tbsp herbs (basil, parsley, thyme)
salt, pepper, 1 tsp of sugar
1/8 l cream

Method

Scald tomatoes with boiling water, remove skin and seeds; cut into strips. Dice onions finely, fry in butter until transluscent; add flour, bring to the boil. add tomatoes and broth. Boil for 10 minutes, without lid. Pasteurize, add tomato puree, milk and seasoning.
Pour into soup bowls and add whipped cream.

PS: This is actually last week's contribution, which I didn't manage to upload! (There is something very strange going on - that's twice in a row that I couldn't upload in time!!)
PPS: up-date on the diet front: only 1/2 kg last week, but that was quite an achievement, considering the amount of alc I had, and the girlie night with Tiramisu, of all things! -- And again, only 1/2 kg this week --- well, better than nothing...

Thanks to sweetnicks for coming up with the idea of ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday, and for doing the round-up! It's always chock-a-block with ideas for using high profile veg in your next meal. I tried out the red potatoes grilled in the GF straight away! (Which worked a treat, though my definition of parboiled certainly needs some re-adjusting!!)