One of the most gratifying, yet at the same time bloody frustrating and time consuming, is collecting and processing all the food you have grown. It all sounds awesome until you have only a few hours of a weekend left and you have just picked a shed load of summer vegies from the garden. No one posts the dirt under the fingernails, the dirt in the sink, the cuts and nicks to skin, the mess in the compost. It's all about lovely baskets of colourful vegetables, isn't it? I am happy to add to that, of course 😉

A vegetable garden in the beginning looks so promising and then after all little by little it grows nothing but vegetables, nothing, nothing but vegetables - Gertrude Stein

The other amazing thing about this time of year in southern Australia is that we are at that gorgeous cusp of summer and winter. The light is golden and the leaves are falling golden from the trees (bar the gums, of course). We are cleaning up the last of the summer foods as we fertilize and plant Autumn/Winter crops. Soup is definately on the menu as we anticipate the cold. Jamie is out 'wooding', the verb we use for collecting firewood, and I can hear the chainsaw in the distance.

If he thinks I am waiting for him to eat he is dreaming! In this recipe I used leftover roast garlic from last night, which gives this a sweeter taste, matching the sweetness of the peppers and counteracting the tartness of the tomatoes. I had to do a separate batch for Jamie anyway, because of his FODMAP needs, so he just had spring onions with his.

Spanish Style Tomato & Red Pepper Soup

10 large tomatoes or equivalent in smaller ones

2 tbsps sherry (optional)

1 tbsp smokey paprika (optional)

Stock to taste

2 large red peppers

2 sticks celery (optional)

1 red Spanish onion

2 cloves of garlic or 6 roasted garlic cloves

Parsley & parmesan to garnish

Garlic butter toast croutons

Chop the tomatoes (I never remove the skins or seeds, though Jamie said I should). Dry fry quartered peppers until the skin is blackened. Pop it in a plastic bag whilst you prepare the rest. This will help you remove the skins which can be bitter. I am a bit lazy so sometimes I skip this step.

Saute onion and raw garlic, if you are using it, until translucent. Add celery and smoked paprika and saute for a minute, then the sherry for a minute. Then, add the stock (about a litre or so), the tomatoes, and the peeled red pepper. Cook until the tomatoes are done and blend until smooth (you can add the roast garlic at this point or earlier, if you like).

I top mine with more roasted garlic, some parsley and parmesan, and some garlic croutons. I do cheat's croutons which is basically toast with garlic butter.

If you are a meat eater, this would also be great with chorizo, which I'd chop up after you blend it.

This is definitely the best tomato soup I've made, and I'd love for you to try it. Let me know if you do. It's also pretty easy to make vegan - you don't need the parmesan or you could make your own out of cashews and nutritional yeast.

Do you have a killer tomato soup recipe? I'd love to hear about it. I love the inspiration from the Steemit community - you are all so creative and talented!

Be grateful for any upvotes, of course - this steeming is hungry work! I've definitely got a few other souper soup recipes up my sleeve...

Have the best of days and happy steeming!