Member Rebecca Silverman is lucky enough to have a food blogger friend. She says: This is my favorite recipe from my friends blog. I make it once a year. It’s wonderful. In my variation, I always use sherry (it really dials in that Andalusian flavor), I never take the skins of after blackening the tomatoes and peppers (the skin doesn’t bother me) and when i serve it I drizzle a little bit of a smoked olive oil on top. Served this way with the oil, it really tastes like it’s restaurant quality and truly an easy soup to make.
INGREDIENTS
5 red, yellow or orange bell peppers
7 large ripe tomatoes
A big glug Olive oil
1 Onion, chopped
sea salt to taste (smoked sea salt is great here if you’ve got it)
3 large cloves Garlic, chopped
1/4 cup Ground Almonds
2 tsp Smoked Paprika
A glug or two of Sherry
Soup stock (preferably homemade) as needed (I used about a cup)
PREPARATION
Place the whole peppers on a baking sheet under a hot broiler. Check them after 5 minutes to see if they have blackened. If not check them every 3 minutes and when they have turned black, flip them with tongs to blacken on the next side. Repeat this process to blacken them on a third side as well. They will be much easier to peel if they are evenly blackened on all sides. For photos of this process click here. When they are done, place the peppers in a bowl to cool off. Leave the broiler on.
Core the tomatoes and place them on the same baking sheet that you used for the peppers. Broil the tomatoes for five to six minutes, or until they’re blackened. Using a pair of tongs, flip them over and blacken them on the other side. While the tomatoes are blackening you can start the onions and garlic stewing.
In a large soup pot start a big glug of olive oil heating on medium flame. When the oil is hot, add the onion and let it sweat with the lid on for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and continue frying, just until the onions begin to turn a pale gold (another 5 minutes or so). Add the almond meal and smoked paprika and continue to fry, stirring for another 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, blackened skins and any juices from the baking sheet included. Break the tomatoes up a bit to release the juices. Pour in a glug or two of sherry as well. Increase the heat to medium high and let the whole lot stew a bit while you deal with the roasted peppers.
By now the peppers should be cool enough to handle. Working over the bowl to catch the juices, pull the core out of the peppers and remove their blackened skins. I just toss the cores and skins back into the bowl, along with any seeds that need to be shaken off. Throw each pepper into the pot as you finish working with it. You will end up with a bowl of skins, seeds and juices. Strain the contents of the bowl through a fine mesh sieve into the pot so that all of those juices make it into your soup.
Puree the soup using an immersion blender, food processor or blender. Add soup stock as needed to achieve the desired thickness. Taste and adjust the seasoning before serving.
