This chilled soup is a wonderfully refreshing dish for the warm Summer days. It’s a bit similar to a Spanish gazpacho but the taste is richer and more intense thanks to the roasted bell peppers which give it their distinct flavour.
If you want to enjoy all the wonderful healing properties of tomatoes, raw garlic and basil don’t make it too much in advance but consume it quickly after preparing and chilling it:
basil is a great antibiotic and antiseptic, plus a good source of magnesium which is perfect for relaxing tense muscles, for example after swimming or sporting. Tomatoes are full of vitamin C and raw garlic is antiviral and antibacterial.
Make lots of it to hydrate and nourish yourself when you’re not that hungry because of the high Summer temperatures. Your body is going to love it.
This soup is part of the “Soup of the Month” project by my friends at Embodied Empowerment.
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Serves 3-4
600 gr. of good (tasty) cherry tomatoes
3 red bell peppers
3 ripe medium-sized tomatoes
6 peeled garlic cloves
6-8 sprigs of fresh basil
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (plus some extra for drizzling)
2,5 dl. cold water
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
Heat up the oven at 240°C.
Cut the peppers in halves and remove stalks and seeds.
Put the half peppers on a baking tray, skin side up.
Roast until the skin shows several big charred spots and the peppers are wrinkly.
Leave them to cool in a container covered with cling film (the steam they produce will help to ease off their skin later on). After about 10 minutes, remove the skin, which won’t be used.
Put the cherry tomatoes in the blender or into a big measuring cup.
Add the basil (leaves only, no stalks), some salt and pepper, 6 tablespoons of e.v. olive oil, the roasted bell peppers, the water and the garlic cloves.
Puree with the blender or with an immersion mixer making it as smooth or coarse as you prefer.
Cut the bigger tomatoes and remove the hard bits and the seeds, then dice them.
Add the chopped tomatoes to the soup and, if necessary, a bit more salt and pepper.
Garnish with some basil leaves and serve chilled, drizzled with a little olive oil.
