Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

We love soups. Panera Bread is one of our favourite places whenever we have to eat at chain restaurants. The soups there taste wonderful and I wish I could say something equally positive about the nutritional value of the soups. I wish the soups had less sugars and hence were low carb. The creamy tomato soup has  39 gms of carbs, 13 gms of sugar,740 mgs of sodium  and  23 gms of fat. Well, this is enough motivation to eat at home.

Over the years  I have learnt to prepare soups by trial and error method. In fall 2006 when I was shopping at Barnes and Nobles for a birthday gift , I came across a beautiful soup book - The Soup Bible. I loved the recipes with beautiful pictures and I bought the book. It was one of the money well spent purchases.Not all recipes in the book are super healthy but I have learnt lot of techniques from this book.

Last Tuesday the weather was perfect for bicycling.I did not want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen . So it was day for a one dish meal - Roasted Red Pepper Soup  served with a wheat baguette.

Method

1. 
   
   Pre-heat the oven to 300 F
   
   
   
2. 
   
   
   
   Cut 2 red bell peppers(remove seeds and the inner white lining) , 1 medium onion, 4 cloves of garlic coarsely and place on a foil lined baking sheet.Sprinkle about 2 tsps of herbs de provence or a mixture of your favorite herbs such as rosemary, thyme,sage,basel,oregano etc. Drizzle about a tbsp of extra vrigin olive oil and place the tray in the oven.
   
   
   
3. 
   
   
   
   Let the vegetables roast for about 30-40 mins. I went bicycling and went I got back home my kitchen was filled with the rich aroma of the herbs. Switch off the oven and get the tray out and let it cool for about 15 minutes.
   
   
   
4. 
   
   Blanch 3 medium size tomatoes,de-skin. Add the coarsely chopped tomatoes and roasted vegetables to a food processor.Puree the vegetable mixture in a food processor with little water.
   
   
   
5. 
   
   Heat a sauce pan and transfer the contents of the food processor to the sauce pan. Adjust the consistency of the soup either by adding water or low fat milk. I used water. Add salt to taste and let it boil.
   
   
   
6. 
   
   Garnish with cream or fresh basil leaves.
   
   
   

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