My husband and I used to have a code for sophisticated food.
We labeled them “interesting” rather than simply delicious.
This is that kind of sophisticated dish, the kind you would serve at a special dinner party rather than a kid’s birthday.
This recipe is from Yotam Ottolenghi’s veg forward cookbook, Comfort. You can order this cookbook through your local independent bookstore or on Amazon here..
Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.
Roasted Eggplant, Red Bell Pepper, and Tomato Soup
October 24, 2026
Ingredients
- 2 eggplants (pricked with a fork)
- 1/4 C. olive oil
- 6 large tomatoes
- 2 red bell peppers
- 2 onions (roughly chopped)
- 6 garlic cloves (roughly chopped)
- 1 T. Fresh thyme leaves
- 2 t. ground cumin
- 1 t. paprika
- 1/8 t. cayenne pepper
- 1/4 t. saffron threads
- 1 T. tomato paste
- 2 1/4 C. vegetable stock
- Salt
- For almond topping:
- 1/4 C. olive oil
- 2/3 C. sliced almonds
- 2 t. fresh thyme leaves
- 1/8 t. saffron threads
- 1/8 t. cayenne pepper
- 1/8 t. paprika
- 1/8 t. ground cumin
- 14 t. flaked sea salt
- 1/4 oz. parsley (roughly chopped)
- 1 T. sherry
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Step 2 Line a large baking sheet with parchment. Place eggplants on the parchment. Rub the eggplants with 1 T. olive oil. Bake for about 30 minutes, turning the eggplants once or twice during baking.
- Step 3 Add the bell peppers and tomatoes to the baked eggplants and drizzle the mixture with another tablespoon of olive oil. Bake for another 30 minutes.
- Step 4 Remove the baked vegetables from the oven. Let them cool. When cool, peel as much of the skin off the vegetables as you can. (It doesn’t have to be perfect, just remove as much as you can so that the skin’s bitterness doesn’t interfere with the flavor of your soup.)
- Step 5 Heat the remaining 2 T. olive oil in a large pan (with a lid) on your stove. Put the roughly-chopped onions the pan .Cook for about 10 minutes until the onions begin to soften and color. Add thyme and garlic to the onions and cook on medium-low heat for another 5 minutes.
- Step 6 Add spices. Add tomato paste. Cook for another 2 minutes until the mixture is fragrant.
- Step 7 Add all the peeled vegetables to the pan with the onions, breaking up the peeled vegetables into pieces as you add them. Add stock along with 2 t. Salt. Bring this mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to lower the boil to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes. You want to use the lid to partally cover the pan as you do this step. After 10 minutes, remove the soup from the heat and cool a bit. Then put the soup into a blender to puree it. (If you want a really silky smooth soup–I did–pass the pureed soup through a sieve at this point. Return the smooth soup to the pot.
- Step 8 In the meantime, prepare the almond topping. Over medium heat, fry the sliced almonds in oil for 3-4 minutes. You need to watch the almonds carefully
- Step 9 they burn quickly. At the very end of frying the almonds, add the thyme, spices and flaked sea salt to the pan. Quickly remove the pan from the heat. Off the heat, stir in the chopped parsley and vinegar.
- Step 10 Serve the soup with a spoonful of the almond garnish sprinkled over the top.
