Arrabiata Soup

This is a really simple lift from my tried and tested Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup which is made embarrassingly often in our house.

The 'arrabiata' or angry element is the addition of fantastic fiery red chilli which makes for a warming, delicious soup ideal for a winter's day. You can remove the seeds of the chilli to reduce the heat but we prefer it hot!

The below makes enough for x2 large portions. 

Arrabiata Soup

Here's how:

• 500g tomatoes (can also use x1 tin chopped tomatoes)
• 1 red onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 large carrot
• 2 celery sticks
• 1 large red jalopeno chilli
• 800ml vegetable stock
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Basil stalks

To garnish:

• Grana Padana (or any other hard cheese)
• Basil leaves
• Black pepper

To begin whack the oven on at it's highest temperature. 

Halve the tomatoes and the red onion, peel the garlic cloves and place all on a baking sheet. Season and drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil then place into the oven on the high heat for 20 minutes or until everything is just charred (blackened) a little.

In the meantime, drizzle a little olive oil into a saucepan and place on a low heat.

Dice the carrot, slice the celery and the red chilli and add to the saucepan and allow to gently soften down - this is the base for your soup.

Once the tomatoes, onion and garlic are softened, add to the saucepan with a few basil stalks and pour over the vegetable stock. Season well and allow to cook for twenty minutes.

Remove from the heat, allow to cool right down then blitz until smooth. 

When wanting to serve, return to the heat and bring up to temperature slowly. 

Ladle into bowls and then if you like to, garnish with slithers of Grana Padana (I use a vegetable peeler for this) and a few basil leaves and season with a final flourish of black pepper. Enjoy!