Cook with Us #27: Roasted Red Pepper And Strawberry Soup

It has yet been another busy week. Not sure if anyone is keeping track but we are less than nine weeks away from Christmas. 9 weeks! You read well. Where has time gone by? I’m not even sure I’ll have enough time to organise everything. But this year I’ll be able to count on my parents. They are flying all the way down from Poland. It will be their second time in Melbourne. It might a little bit different for them as Melbourne’s Christmas is normally a warm one.

I’m glad to be back for the second week of season 3 of Cook With Us. Based on the number of entries registered last week we can only conclude that the popularity of this contest is as good as ever. We have to warmly congratulate the Cook with Us team composed of @offoodandart, @pandamama and @chefsteve who, each week, tirelessly organise, review, and judge the different competitors. And they’ve been amazing in securing the sponsorship of @curie for season 3. This means that the competition can continue in its current configuration but additional prizes.

For this week’s theme I was considering making one of my favourite soup, a Malaysian Chicken Laksa with dried Tofu. I thought long and hard about it but then I thought that maybe someone else might come up with a similar idea. And beside I’ve made a post about Laksa in the past so I felt that it would be more appropriate to do something original. With my husband, we enjoy soup. Soup in all its glory, flavour, and style! In Poland, we would have soup on a daily basis just before dinner. I know that some of my neighbours here will refer to dinner as Supper as this will be the most likely dish they will have at night. Others may just settle for toast and tea!

Soon after the @docsmith Knife Contest finale, I’ve made a couple of posts with regards to the plight of Strawberry growers in Australia. The growers have had it tough in Australia because of some individuals who decided to sabotage the industry by inserting needles in strawberries. Since that unfortunate incident I have been trying to support them in anyway possible. And at home we have increased our best to increase our strawberry consumption. So when I came across a soup recipe on the blog Sugar et al with Strawberries as the main ingredients for the soup I just couldn’t look away. I had to try it and understand what went through the mind of the person who invented the recipe.

So as usual I gave it a good crack in trying to understand the flavour combination that have gone into creating this particular recipe. I was a little bit worried about how the combination of all the ingredients will work out with the strawberries. The recipe recommends using chicken or vegetable stock so I thought I’ll make my own stock as I’ve always done. I thought that it will help provide another level to the flavour. What amazed me more with this recipe is how colourful and vibrant this dish is. And when we finally had a chance to taste it it was such a surprise. We absolutely loved it. We were supposed to have it for dinner but my little one had a few too many bowl. So I might now need to prepare something else for dinner.

Based on this first experience with incorporating strawberries in my cooking I’m definitely going to try it again and hopefully come up with my own special strawberry recipe some days. In the meantime I will just have to enjoy this particular dish.

I hope you enjoy it too!

Bon appétit!

And good luck to everyone.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 white onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
• 350 g roasted red capsicum (approx 11/2 cups)
• 200 g strawberries, washed, hulled, roughly chopped
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp mixed herbs (dried or fresh)
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• Salt and pepper, to season
• Extra strawberries, to serve
• Toasted pumpkin seeds, to serve
• Extra virgin olive oil, to serve

METHOD

1. In a large pan, add water, celeriac, carrots, parsley, mushrooms, onions as well as some pepper corns and all spice to make the vegetable stock.
2. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the bay leaf, garlic and onions and fry till onions turn light brown.
3. Add the tomatoes and stir for a minute. Add the red peppers, strawberries and cook till strawberries turn soft and mushy. Remove from heat and cool slightly (about 10-15 minutes). 
4. Using a hand blender, blend the mixture until smooth. If the mixture is too thick to blend, add in a little stock or water.
5. Place back on the heat. Add the vegetable stock, balsamic vinegar, paprika, mixed herbs, maple syrup, salt and pepper and stir to mix.
6. Serve warm with fresh strawberries, toasted nuts/seeds, fresh herbs, a dash of extra virgin olive oil and cracked pepper.