Seasonal Recipe: Tomato and Pepper Soup

My outdoor tomatoes are beginning to ripen nicely so I reckon you greenhouse growing types must getting near to tomato glut times. We're nowhere near that happy time yet, but a chance encounter with the cheap-because-the-sell-by-date-is-due-today shelf at my local supermarket yielded a goodly crop of ingredients for an instant make-it-up-on-the-spot simple tomato and pepper soup :)

Ingredients

2 litres vegetable stock

1kg tomatoes, whole

2 red peppers, chopped (preferably the ones with the pointy ends)

Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

1. Place all the ingredients except the seasoning in a large saucepan
2. Bring to the boil
3. Ensure the tomatoes are well mashed into the stock
4. Add seasoning to taste
5. Simmer for 25 minutes
6. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary
7. Whizz everything together with a hand blender

Serves 6-8 with lashings of freshly baked crusty bread - hot or cold depending on the weather and your mood.

Hints, tips and variations

1. Ham stock makes a great substitute if you've had boiled ham and the resulting stock isn't salty. I find it works well if I've soaked the ham overnight and changed the water before boiling.
2. If you don't have ham or vegetable stock, then store cupboard vegetable stock cubes make a handy substitute
3. Peeling the tomatoes is optional - you'll see from the above photo I didn't bother. If you want to use skinless tomatoes, you'll need to put them in a bowl with some boiling water to release the skins from the tomato flesh before adding them to the stock
4. Any kind of pepper can be used, though if you use green peppers you may also want to add a chopped onion to the recipe. I use pointy ended peppers because they tend to have a better flavour. I also find the tomatoes and red pepper alone have a sweetness and depth of flavour which doesn't need the addition of an onion or herbs for that matter
5. I used ham stock for the pictured soup and added two heaped handfuls of puy lentils and some finely chopped ham to the soup after the whizzing it with a hand blender stage. Then I simmered it for a further 20 minutes until the lentils were soft. The lentils add a rich earthiness to the flavour and this variation makes a very comforting soup
6. Petra has kindly reminded me in the comments of this variation I'd forgotten to include: Roasting the tomatoes and pepper in the oven prior to making the soup makes it even more delicious!