Chilled red pepper soup with soured cream
4 people
Serving size
Ingredients
1 large onion
3 tbsp live oil, plus extra to finish
8 sage leaves, finely chopped
4 large red peppers
2 bay leaves
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp caster sugar
pinch of dried chilli flakes
500ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 celery stick, cut into 1.5cm dice
grated zest of ½ lemon
1 garlic clove, crushed
25g basil leaves, roughly chopped
10g flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
100g soured cream
salt
Method
- Peel the onion and chop it roughly. Heat up the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and sage and sauté on medium heat for 5 minutes or until the onion is translucent.
- While the onion is cooking, halve the peppers lengthways. Take a half of one pepper, remove the seeds and white flesh and cut it into 1.5cm dice. Keep it for later.
- Remove the seeds from the rest of the peppers, roughly chop them and stir into the saucepan with the onions. Add ¾ a teaspoon of salt, bay leaves, ground cumin, sugar and chilli.
- Sauté for another 5 minutes. Add the stock and bring to a light simmer. Cover the pot and cook on a very low heat for 15 minutes.
- Once the peppers are soft, remove the bay leaves from the soup. While still hot, use a liquidiser or a hand stick blender to pulverise the soup until it is totally smooth. This may take a few minutes. Leave to cool down a little.
- Once the soup is just warm, stir in the celery, diced red pepper, lemon zest and garlic. Leave until it comes to room temperature and then refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
- Remove the soup from the fridge half an hour before serving. Stir well, taste and adjust the seasoning. Divide into serving bowls, sprinkle over a generous amount of chopped basil and parsley, add a spoonful of sour cream per portion and finish with a drizzle of olive oil.