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STOP! Before you hit ‘Jump to Recipe’ check ‘Skip to the Good Bit‘ below. I may answer a query you have about this recipe.
How about this naturally gluten free Roasted Tomato, Pepper and Garlic Soup Recipe to add to your weekly lunch, dinner or suppertime menu? I make this just for myself and have it over two days but with the handy serving options you can increase this recipe to serve 4, 6 or reduce it by half to make soup for one.
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Why roast the garlic too?
I roast the garlic for this soup recipe for two reasons. Firstly I think roasted garlic has a wonderful flavour, much sweeter and more subtle. Secondly, it’s kinder to my tummy. Now this may just be a ‘me’ thing but there may be something in that fact that roasting the garlic reduces and nearly removes the allicin in the garlic.
Allicin is the oily liquid that seeps out of chopped garlic and it is responsible for the strong smell and taste. By roasting the garlic you cook out the allicin but by doing so you also reduce the antioxidant qualities that is processes.
In summery, it’s down to you whether you can tolerate garlic and want to add it raw to benefit from all its nutrient qualities or, like me, you’d rather opt for the slightly more tummy friendly option.
What is the best tomato to use for soup?
I admit to using various types of tomato in this Roasted Tomato, Pepper and Garlic Soup. This depends entirely on my budget at the time. If I’m feeling better off I’ll splash out on some delicious vine ripened tomatoes. In my opinion the vine ripened variety are sweeter and richer in taste and colour. Other times I’ll buy cherry tomatoes or one of my favourites, baby plum tomato’s.
Of course, if you have been clever enough to grow your own tomato’s at home then by all means use these. Homegrown are often fuller in flavour and picked fresh, who can beat the garden to kitchen nutrient burst.
Tomatoes I would steer clear of are un-ripened tomatoes or beefsteak tomato’s (the largest variety) as these would give you a different flavour and texture that may not be so pleasant.
Fun fact about peppers (bell peppers)
Did you know that you can get male and female peppers, you can tell by the bumps, three means it’s male, four means it’s female.
Sorry! I lied. How naughty of me.
This myth has been doing the rounds for a few years now and I’ll admit to have been sucked in myself. Boy have I got egg on my face now. All peppers are the fruit from the ‘overies’ of the bell pepper plant. A plant can produce both three bump and four bump peppers and the reason for this is simply down to growing conditions and genetics – not gender! There are a few more myths busted in this article by James Wong in The Guardian.
Batch cook this soup to save money
We can all agree that buying in bulk and cooking in batches is much more cost effective right? This is because bigger bags of fresh vegetables are cheaper. Also, firing up the oven just once to cook the vegetables is cheaper than remaking the whole recipe on another day from scratch.
The act of reheating soup is way more cost effective and using a microwave if you have one is considerably less in energy bills.
Did you say ‘Poppycock’! Don’t take my word for it, this really handy energy calculator is mildly addictive and comes in really handy when I’m invoicing people for recipe development. You do need to know a few things about your personal energy use first but once you know those factors you can work out how much it costs you to heat up a tin of beans to roasting a Sunday dinner to warming up your cold tea!
How much does it cost?
To make this Roasted Tomato, Pepper and Garlic Soup I’ve worked out the cost using basic ingredients (cherry tomatoes instead of vine ripened). If you buy in bulk, this price will go down. The energy costs are based on the current energy rates in the last quarter of 2022 with a capped rate of 0.52per kWh
400g Tomatoes – 0.80p
Red Pepper – 0.45p
1 Knorr Stock Pot – 0.30p (based on a pack of 8 pots)
Dried Basil – 0.03p
Garlic Clove – 0.02p
£1.60 for two servings (80p per serving)
To roast vegetables in the oven it costs between 0.42-0.62p (max. £1.11 per serving)
To steam the vegetables in a microwave it costs between 0.18-0.28p (max. 94p per serving)
Save even more money and microwave
Times are tough for many and I find myself looking for cheaper, quicker, more efficient ways to cook these days. However I don’t want to compromise on taste and nutrients.
Microwaving foods does leave you with a different flavour to roasting. So be prepared for a different end result if you chose to microwave rather than roast the veggies for this soup recipe. Basically, the flavours are less intense and slightly less sweet, but you may think that’s a good thing?
How to microwave vegetables
One way to microwave vegetables is to invest in a microwave steamer they’re easy to clean, have an integrated steam basket and the one linked holds vegetables for two people. They come with full instructions on how to use and what you can cook in them.
If you don’t like the idea of a plastic microwave steamer then you can make your own with a microwave-proof dish (I’ve used my glass Pyrex Casserole Dishes with lids in the past) then cover with microwavable plastic wrap or (and this is better for the environment) use a lid or upturned plate.
To arrange the veggies, simply prepare them as you would if using a conventional steamer, then arrange them in the microwave dish making sure there are plenty of gaps for the steam to travel around them.
Next add 1-2 tablespoons of water, that’s it – the vegetables will already be wet after you’ve rinsed them.
Heat on full power for 2-4 minutes depending on how hard your vegetables are*.
TOP TIP: heat for 30 seconds at a time and keep checking. Eventually you will know exactly how long different type of vegetables take to cook and become a microwave steaming pro!
* absolutely no point in me giving you exact times as everyone’s microwaves are different powers, mine is 900w for example, yours may be 700 or 800w.
How to store your Roasted Tomato soup when batch cooking
When batch cooking, you not only save energy by only cooking the recipe once, but you also give yourself quick and easy lunches and dinner for the rest of the week or the following week for that matter.
I explain how to sterilise portion sized jar below but you can also ladle the soup into Tupperware containers to keep in the fridge. Note that if using Tupperware the shelf life of the soup will only be 4-5 days as you will not have gone through the sterilisation process first.
How to sterilise jars for your individual soup portions
Wash your jars* and the lids in hot soapy water, but do not dry them. Instead, leave them to stand upside down on a roasting tray while they’re still wet.
Pop the tray of clean, wet jars and lids in to a preheated oven at 160-180ºC for about 15 mins.
Using a funnel pour your soup into the jars. Be very careful not to touch or get any of the mixture onto the rim of the jars as this could introduce bacteria.
Ideally you want to fill the jars not quite to the top, leave about 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) gap at the top between the soup and the lid.
While everything is still hot, secure the lids tightly.
Once in sterilised jars like this your soups should keep for about 1 month in the fridge probably longer.
*you could easily use 500g jam or cooking sauce jars
Other soup recipe ideas
For a full soup recipe collection and top tips on how to; make free from soups from scratch, thicken soup, source gluten free stock cubes and more head over to my Delicious Free From Homemade Soup Recipe Collection
Roasted Tomato, Pepper and Garlic Soup Recipe
If you make it and like the recipe I would be eternally grateful if you popped back and commented leaving a star rating as this will tell search engines that this recipe is worth checking out and others will get to find it in searches.
Roasted Tomato, Red Pepper and Garlic Soup
Ingredients
- 400 g vine ripe tomatoes
- 1 red pepper quartered and cored
- olive oil
- 1 vegetable stock I use gluten free Knorr Stock Pots [see notes for alternatives]
- 500 ml boiled water
- 1 clove garlic (powder, puree or clove) Ideally a clove so you can roast it with the vegetables
- 1 tsp dried or chopped fresh basil
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pop the tomatoes (I keep mine on the vine) and pepper quarters on a baking tray with some olive oil and seasoning and roast for 30 mins at 220°C | 200°C fan | 400°F | Gas 6
- Make your vegetable stock by following the instructions- typically you add the stock cube or jelly to a 1ltr jug and pour over 500ml of boiled water
- Once roasted, place the tomatoes and pepper, roasted garlic clove, basil, and 500ml of vegetable stock and seasoning into a blender and pulse until smooth. I normally use my hand blender for this – less washing up.
- If eating immediately pour into soup bowls and enjoy with your favourite gluten free bread.
- If saving for later pour into your sterilised jar or Tupperware and seal immediately
- Allow to cool completely before putting in the fridge.
Notes
I always use Knorr Rich Beef Stock pots in this chilli con carne but there are other versions of stock by Knorr that are also gluten free. I find the stock pots are often on multi-buy special offer so only buy them when this is the case. NOTE: gravy pots are NOT gluten free. Other stock pots are OXO who now have gluten free stock pots (not cubes, these are not currently gluten free). Kallo do gluten free stock cubes and granules and Marigold make gluten free and vegan Bouillon.
Nutrition
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