Roasted Carrot and red pepper soup – Avoca Cafe Cookbook

I wanted to find a soup I could make up in advance and serve up as a starter rather than a hearty soup for lunchtime. I remember my nephew Andrew making a lovely roasted pepper and tomato soup but as tomatoes are not in season I thought I’d try a roasted pepper and carrot soup from the Avoca Cafe Cookbook: Bk. 1.

I loved the soup as did my boys. It is a lovely bright orange colour with specks of red. I added more water to make it a little less substantial, if you did this as a starter you wouldn’t want large bowls of soup. Would make a very nice lunch with bread. It’s probably a soup that would work well for a flask.

Ingredients

• 3 large red peppers, cut into quarters and deseeded
• 10 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 large onions, peeled and finely chopped
• a pinch ground cinnamon
• 1.8 litres vegetable stock
• juice of 1 lime
• 4 dsps creme fraiche
• paprika

Instructions

1. Toss the peppers and carrots in half the olive oil and roast in a very hot oven for 10 mins or until the peppers start to look charred
2. Meanwhile gently saute the onions in the remaining oil for 10 mins
3. Add the carrots and peppers to the onions with the cinnamon and some salt and pepper. Toss them together then add stock and lime juice
4. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 mins or until the carrots are tender
5. Puree the soup in a blender, then reheat gently
6. Serve topped with a spoonful of creme fraiche and a pinch of paprika

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