In four days, I leave for Calgary to be with Meggie and Theo as they wait for the arrival of their first child.
A little boy…
My mind is overflowing with daydreams of worn out sneakers, cookie crumb trails, tree houses, tiny hockey gear, special cuddle blankets, secret forts and a dimpled grin. From the moment he is born, our lives will never be the same…
Before I leave, I’m trying to use up as many of my garden tomatoes as possible. The cherry tomatoes are bursting with flavour and, happily, our red bell peppers have ripened at the same time. This soup is delicious, fresh and slightly sweet. The tarragon almond pesto adds just the right amount of kick to off set the sweetness from the roasted vegetables.. Note that I haven’t added any soup stock. My tomatoes were so juicy it wasn’t necessary. If you find your soup too thick, just add a little stock until you reach the desired consistency. You can use vegetable or chicken stock. For you purists out there, you’ll also notice that I didn’t remove the skins from either the tomatoes or the pepper. It’s a philosophical thing with me. I think the roughage from the skins is helpful in aiding digestion and I like the flecks!
ROASTED CHERRY TOMATO AND SWEET PEPPER SOUP
With tarragon and almond pesto
Serves 4
Pre-heat oven 400*F
2 lbs ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
4 small red sweet bell peppers
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
THE STEPS:
- Place cherry tomatoes and whole peppers on baking sheet and toss with oil.
- Season then place in oven 20 minutes or until tomatoes are bursting and pepper skins are shrivelled.
- Remove baking sheet from oven.
- Cut peppers in half and scrap away seeds and stem
- Place tomatoes, peppers and juice from the baking sheet in the bowl of your food processor.
- Whiz a couple of times until the mixture looks like a chunky soup.
WHILE THE TOMATOES AND PEPPERS ARE ROASTING:
TARRAGON AND ALMOND PESTO
1 bunch fresh tarragon, leaves picked
2 tablespoons blanched almond slices
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
THE STEPS:
- Place tarragon, sliced almonds, garlic and salt in food processor
- Pulse until coarsely chopped
- Add oil olive through feed tube with motor running.
- Process until finely chopped and looks creamy.
- Swirl a spoonful into each serving of soup.
THE LOVE: Use local ripe cherry tomatoes.
Thanks for reading.
