Roast Vegetable & Tomato Soup with Basil

I had a few vegetables to use up and my friend Audrey kindly gave me some courgettes from her garden. I was a bit stuck to think of what I was going to make, but now I am back in soup mode, so I decided to roast the vegetables and turn them into soup.

Roast Vegetable & Tomato Soup with Basil

3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, quartered
1 aubergine, sliced
3 courgettes, sliced thickly
3 bell peppers, red and orange, cut into large chunks
3 salad tomatoes
1 400g tin tomatoes
2 cups vegetable stock
2 tbsp tomato puree
fresh basil
salt
pepper

In a large bowl toss together the prepared vegetables, olive oil, salt, pepper and a few basil leaves. Pour the vegetables into a roasting pan, that has heated through in a pre-heated hot oven. Roast for 20 - 30 minutes until the vegetables have started to char at the edges. Turn the vegetables once during this time.

Spoon the roast vegetable into a blender, along with the tin of tomatoes and whizz until smooth. Then pour into a pan, add the stock and tomato puree and warm through while stirring. Add a handful of shredded fresh basil and season to taste.

Serves 4 - 6

This soup is lovely and rich served as it is, but I think it would be even more satisfying with a swirl of cream or yoghurt.

It would also be a great pasta sauce. Just think of that roast vegetable and tomato flavour in a thick sauce, coating the pasta and topped with feta cheese. Mmmmmm! It would actually be good with a few reserved roast vegetables added to the sauce at the end for texture as well. If you are making it into a sauce, then use half the quantity of vegetable stock.