Recipe by Nick Knowles, taken from his cookbook Proper Healthy Food
Recipe published in Feast, Issue 13 – February 2016
Serves Four
Prep time: 20 minutes | Cooking time: 35 minute
INGREDIENTS
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, crushed
½ small red chilli, deseeded and chopped
2 large jarred roasted peppers, sliced
2 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes
200g of cherry tomatoes
400ml vegetable stock
2tbsp of brown sugar
2tbsp of lemon juice
2tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
1tsp of Tabasco
½ small bunch of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
100ml of buttermilk
100g of crème fraiche
3tbsp of milk
1tsp of wasabi paste
a handful of pea shoots (optional)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1. Heat the olive oil in a large casserole dish or saucepan over a low heat. Add the onion and celery and cook gently with a pinch of salt for 10 minutes or until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the garlic and chilli and cook for 2 minutes. Add the peppers, both sets of tomatoes and the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer, stir through the brown sugar, lemon juice and stale bread and cook gently, covered, for 20 minutes
2. Tip the soup into a blender or use a stick blender in the pan to blitz it to a smooth texture. Stir the
Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and parsley through the soup and season to taste. Set aside over a low heat to warm through 3. In a small bowl, mix together the buttermilk, crème fraiche, milk and wasabi. Season with salt. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls and drizzle over the wasabi crème fraiche. Top each with a cluster of the curly peppery pea shoots, if using, then serve.