Something warm in your tum!

Recently I have gotten really into using what was a wedding anniversary gift from my parents almost a year ago. We were given one of these Jamie Oliver Multicookers. Its a pressure cooker at two different pressures, it browns, fries, boils, simmers, steams and keeps things warm. Its a fantastic piece of kit for one put cooking. And when you are done, you pull out the non-stick liner and sling it in the dishwasher, job done! It was also an incredibly handy piece of kit when I had not usable kitchen for two weeks when ours was ripped out and redone!

Mostly these days it is being used as a one pot soup cooker, and boy does it do the job well. I have been trying out a few recipes, much to my husband's delight. And there really is nothing like warm soup with a fresh bread roll on a cold day. admittedly I cheat with the latter, and use the supermarket's part baked bread rolls, but they come out lovely all the same.

The current favourite in this house, mainly because my husband loves spicy things, is a red pepper soup. Its full of lovely ingredients, and just that little bit of zip of chilli to make it such a good warmer. So I thought I would share my recipe.



See, doesn't that look just so warm and yummy? It very much is. So for the soup (and you will get 4 bowls from this recipe), you need:

4 red bell peppers
1 good sized onion
1 tablespoon olive oil/ equivalent fat for frying
3 tablespoons tomato puree
900 ml or one and a half pints of chicken stock
1 clove of garlic
1 small red chilli
1 lime

Its easy as pie to make too.

1. Deseed and roughly chop the peppers and the onion and fry in the fat of your choice for five minutes to soften

2. crush the garlic clove, chop the chilli and add to the mix with half the stock.

3. add the tomato puree.

A note here. If tomato puree is not something you have in your cupboard, or perhaps, like me, you forgot to buy it (yes, I was a twit), there is something most people are likely to have in the house that works just fine. I know, its tried and tested, and you can't taste the difference. If you are short, then grab that bottle of tomato ketchup and sling three good tablespoons of that in instead. Everything really does work with ketchup it seems ;)

4: simmer for ten minutes then allow to cool, before blending smooth with your favoured implement.

5: zest the lime and squeeze the juice into the remaining stock.

6: Add stock, lime juice and rind to the soup and bring to the boil.

Season and serve with fresh crusty bread and enjoy. Would be wonderful with a swirl of single cream on top as well.

Hmm, now I have a bowl full in my tummy keeping me warm. What's keeping you all warm at the moment? Till next post!