Roasted Red Pepper & Butter Bean Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 3 celery sticks, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1½ tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 x 350 g jars roasted red peppers, drained and roughly chopped
• 1 x 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 x 400 g tins butter beans, drained and rinsed
• 1.2 litres hot vegetable stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• ½ lemon, juice only
• 150 g full-fat Greek yoghurt
• 15 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• Fine salt and black pepper

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions, carrots and celery with a good pinch of salt and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, until completely soft and sweet.
2. Add the garlic, smoked paprika, cayenne and tomato purée. Cook for 1 minute, until the garlic smells mellow and the purée has darkened slightly.
3. Add the roasted peppers, chopped tomatoes, one tin of butter beans, stock, bay leaves and sugar. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes so the jarred peppers lose their sharp edge and the beans soften into the soup.
4. Remove the bay leaves and blend until completely smooth. Return the soup to the pan and stir in the remaining butter beans.
5. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add the lemon juice. Taste and add salt or black pepper if needed; the lemon should sharpen the peppers without making the soup sour.
6. Ladle into warm bowls, add a spoonful of yoghurt and scatter over the parsley.