Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

There is something so comforting about anything that is left to slow roast in the oven. Even if it is tomatoes and red peppers. Just allowing them to hang out and soften in caramelized goodness; it seems so luxurious. Even decadent.

Who knew throwing some veggies in the oven and forgetting about them could seem like so much effort?

Speaking of effortless, this soup actually came from a tomato sauce that I had already prepared.
It began with 4 - 5 cups of Cherry Tomatoes. Basically I had enough to cover my entire baking sheet. I added a head of garlic and drizzled the works with Extra Virgin, salt and pepper. Pop this into a 300 degree oven for about an hour or until they pop open and look like the tasty little gems below:

Have a peek at them from time to time and once you notice that they are almost there toss 1 fairly finely diced onion into a pot with a nice splash of Extra Virgin. Once the onion is soft add the tomatoes and garlic and puree with a hand mixer or in a food processor. I did mine like a country job and left the skins and seeds in but if you prefer something a little more smooth feel free to put it all through a sieve. Have a final taste to see if you need to adjust the seasoning. It all depends on your tomatoes, your taste and how much you added when roasting. That was it for the sauce, simple and basic but really nice with a sweet, homey tomato flavor.

For the Soup I just roasted up about 3 red peppers. You can do this a few different ways, you can put the whole peppers onto the gas flame of a stove, you can toss them under a broiler, or roast them slowly. Should you choose one of the first two methods, which are the fastest you will want to leave the peppers until the skin is charred. I mean black people! Don't take them out to soon. In order to keep with the quick time frame you can them put the peppers into a bowl and cover with a lid or plastic wrap. This gives them a little steam and makes it really easy to remove the skins. Should you slow roast it you will still want them to be quite well done, although they don't need to be charred, you will see them begin to wrinkle and soften, you can remove them then and give them the same covered bowl treatment mentioned above.
Once they have chilled out in the bowl the skin will be easy to remove, I added the peppers and the tomato sauce into a food processor and blitzted until it was smooth. Feel free to use what you have here, a hand blender, regular blender or food pro.
Something tells me a potato masher just isn't going to cut it!!
Add to a pot, heat, taste, season and enjoy!