Tomato and Fig Soup
By on September 10, 2009 9:06 PM
The other day I mentioned that I had received Maria's book in the mail which I have since read it from cover to cover. This tomato and fig soup is yet another one of Maria's clever creations. Again I didn't want to wait until tomatoes were in season before trying this soup, so I decided to use tinned Italian tomatoes instead. This recipe also called for a green capsicum, but in this instance I chose to use a red capsicum instead as I find them sweeter.
If you were to serve this soup to your nearest and dearest without telling them about the addition of dried figs, they would be none the wiser because once you process the soup the figs are literally unrecognizable in terms of texture. Had I not added the chilli I would have probably served this soup to Hoover and Fussy as they would have loved the sweet flavours of the Spanish onions, red capsicum, cinnamon and dried figs.
Next time round I may just pull back on the chill and serve it to the kids. I can just imagine Fussy's face when he asks with empty soup bowl in hand 'what was in the soup mama'?
I know I'm absolutely terrible at times!
Tomato and Fig Soup
Adapted from The Modern Vegetarian 2009
Ingredients
2 x 400g tins of finely crushed Italian tomatoes
100g dried figs, soaked in 3 cups of boiling water
1 red capsicum, finely sliced
1 Spanish onion, finely sliced
2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3 fresh bay leaves
2 tsp cumin
½ tsp chilli flakes
1 cinnamon stick
¼ cup of caster sugar
Olive oil
Sea salt & freshly ground pepper
Handful of roughly chopped wild rocket (arugla) to garnish
Method
1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion, garlic and red capsicum for 10 minutes. Add the cumin, chilli flakes, cinnamon stick and bay leaves and continue to cook for a couple of minutes.
2. Add the tinned tomatoes, sugar and figs, together with the soaking water and simmer over a low heat for about 20-25 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick and season to taste.
3. Blend the soup, with the bay leaves in a food processor until smooth. To serve, garnish the hot soup with a little of the chopped wild rocket and drizzle with some good extra virgin olive oil.
If you were to serve this soup to your nearest and dearest without telling them about the addition of dried figs, they would be none the wiser because once you process the soup the figs are literally unrecognizable in terms of texture. Had I not added the chilli I would have probably served this soup to Hoover and Fussy as they would have loved the sweet flavours of the Spanish onions, red capsicum, cinnamon and dried figs.
Next time round I may just pull back on the chill and serve it to the kids. I can just imagine Fussy's face when he asks with empty soup bowl in hand 'what was in the soup mama'?
I know I'm absolutely terrible at times!
Tomato and Fig Soup
Adapted from The Modern Vegetarian 2009
Ingredients
2 x 400g tins of finely crushed Italian tomatoes
100g dried figs, soaked in 3 cups of boiling water
1 red capsicum, finely sliced
1 Spanish onion, finely sliced
2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3 fresh bay leaves
2 tsp cumin
½ tsp chilli flakes
1 cinnamon stick
¼ cup of caster sugar
Olive oil
Sea salt & freshly ground pepper
Handful of roughly chopped wild rocket (arugla) to garnish
Method
1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion, garlic and red capsicum for 10 minutes. Add the cumin, chilli flakes, cinnamon stick and bay leaves and continue to cook for a couple of minutes.
2. Add the tinned tomatoes, sugar and figs, together with the soaking water and simmer over a low heat for about 20-25 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick and season to taste.
3. Blend the soup, with the bay leaves in a food processor until smooth. To serve, garnish the hot soup with a little of the chopped wild rocket and drizzle with some good extra virgin olive oil.
Permalink
Yum! How intriguing! Looks just wonderful!
I would have never thought of using figs in a soup, especially not with tomatoes! I'm pleasantly intrigued! =)