With the summer weather unpredictable, we’re swapping ice creams and salad for a hearty soup to get us through the tail end of lockdown and perfect the recipe in time for winter. Foods are reappearing in the supermarkets, so a few ‘treats’ can creep into our menus, but we’re still sticking to a staple – the beloved tinned tomatoes!

Rustle up a nutritious bowl as you watch your favourite new-found TV show. For me that’s Kirsty: Keep Crafting and Carry On for all my homemade inspiration - after all, it’s never too early to start making Christmas presents!

So here goes - a classic Gino D’Acampo recipe (from his book ‘Gino’s Italian Express’), with a staple twist. Click the link below to buy a hard-copy for £13.20.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients 

1 tin of chopped plum tomatoes

2 red peppers

1 medium red onion

3 tablespoons olive oil

500ml vegetable stock

salt and pepper to taste

drizzle of cream and/or oil for garnishing (optional)

Extra equipment

Hand blender required for blitzing, unless a super chunky soup is your preference.

Instructions

1. Go wild (but safely!), roughly chopping the onion and pepper, keeping them in separate piles. If you want to add a little extra flavour, try roasting the peppers first, brushing oil over the surface before popping them in the oven (roasting time approximately 40 minutes on gas mark 6).

2. Heat the oil over a medium heat, frying the onions to golden perfection. Mmm, what a delicious scent!

3. Add in the chopped tomatoes, stirring continuously for several minutes. Be careful to avoid the initial sizzle as you add in the tomatoes!

4. Pour in the vegetable stock and shuffle in those (roasted) peppers, giving the rich mixture a good stir.

5. Heat and simmer the soup as you bop to some music for 10 minutes - make sure you don’t get too carried away and forget to stir occasionally.

6. Remove the pan from the heat, blitzing with your blender until you have achieved the desired consistency.

7. Add salt and pepper to taste before serving (with optional aesthetic drizzles of cream and oil)!

Please share your City Girl-inspired creations with us on Instagram and any experimental successes (or quirky concoctions) using @citygirlnetwork.

Bon appétit!

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Written by Charlotte Bird 

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