A couple of weeks ago I served this soup at my last Greek Supper Club. A good salad is hard to make in Autumn but I’m all for soups. I came across some sweet, ripe tomatoes at the market and roasted them to concentrate their flavour and get a bit of smoky flavour (which I do like).
Don’t have ripe tomatoes? Diced plum tomatoes would work and if you want to make an express version without roasting the tomatoes, add a couple of fire roasted red peppers…that’ll give you that smoky flavour.
Bulgur wheat, what is it? It’s a dried quick-cooking form of whole wheat that’s been cleaned, par-boiled and dried. It comes in various sizes and it’s a must for this soup.
Roasted Tomato Soup with Bulgur
(serves 6-8)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
6-7 ripe tomatoes or 1 can (796 ml) of canned plum tomatoes
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 stalk of celery, chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic
2-3 red peppers, blistered on a grill, skins peeled and seeded
3 bay leaves
6-7 cups of vegetable stock
1/2 cup coarse bulgur (look for #3)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
Garnishes
crumbled Feta cheese
chopped fresh chives
- To roast the tomatoes, halve them place cut side up, drizzle with olive oil and season with sea salt. Place in a pre-heated oven for 40 minutes.
- Into a large pot, add all the ingredients (from olive oil to stock) and bring up to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, add salt and pepper to taste and cook for 45 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
- Remove from the heat and remove the bay leaves. Use a blender or hand blender to purée the soup. Place back on the stove and add the bulgur and simmer on medium-low (stirring occasionally) for 20 minutes or until bulgur is cooked.
- Remove from heat, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and the mint. Serve with Feta and chives.
*Tip: If making ahead of time, boil the bulgur separately and add to reheated soup when serving. This way your bulgur won’t thicken your soup top much.
