'Long time no eat' spicy roast tomato soup

No one wants to be on the receiving end of a blustering excuse so I'll keep the 'lack of post' slash 'repetition of tomato' apologies brief. First, Chew’s been working her head off and I’ve been moving house. So that's that. Second, I have more tomatoes because it just happens to be the season for them. Plus, Chew needs a hearty soup to help revive her hard yakka bones.

So… this little red girl is for whenever you are feeling like a jangling shell rather than a fighting machine and are after some boosting. I don't think you need any more veg than the tomato but I added some because my lovely house friend is of the opinion that soup doesn't count as food so I am obliged to make it chunky.



What you need

1/2 onion, chopped
2 lemon grass sticks (discard the hard outer bits and finely slice the rest)
2 green chilis, finely chopped
A little person's thumb of fresh ginger, finely grated (ie. not much but then I'm not a huge ginger lover)
1 large potato, cubed (or six little ones, halved)
1 zuchinni, finely sliced
A bunch of fresh coriander
6 big tomatoes (or more if you want)
2 garlic cloves
Miso paste or veg stock
Olive oil
Salt'n'pepa
Water to fill your soup pot

How it goes

Preheat the oven to 200c. Chop 2 of the tomatoes into quarters then toss them with olive oil and your potatoes in an oven tray (with some salt'n'pepa and a splash of red wine vinegar if you want). Squash, shell and roughly chop the garlic into quarters. Stuff them into the tomatoes then put the tray of veggies in the oven to roast for 15-20 minutes.

In a soup sized pot, fry the onion on med-low heat to soften with the lemon grass, chilli and ginger. After a few minutes, add the zuchinni and whatever other fresh veg you desire. When the onion is soft, add the diced tomato, water and miso paste (or veg stock). Add your roast veg and and their juices (swill a little water around the pan if need be). Bring the whole shebang to a boil then let it simmer like a grumpy old drunk for at least 30 minutes.

This is a real cleansing soup. If you've got some crusty bread, great. If you’ve got a crusty nose, you'll be whistling dixie by the morning.