A couple of weeks ago, me and my friend Daria had a little catch up in town – we were meant to be doing LGMC errands but ended up spending most of our time having lunch…and then cake! We both had some really yummy roasted tomato and mascarpone soup for lunch, and I decided to have a look and see if I could recreate it at home because it was THAT good.

I found this recipe on the BBC Good Food website and it’s pretty close to what we had for lunch – yay! I’ll definitely be making this again.

Ingredients

1kg very ripe tomatoes
pinch golden caster sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
sprig of thyme and 2 fresh bay leaves, tied together
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp sundried or normal tomato purée
600ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp mascarpone cheese (or use double cream as alternative)

Method

1. Heat oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3 – 4. Bring a pan of water to the boil and get a bowl of iced water at the ready. Cut a small slit in the bottom of each tomato then plunge into boiling water in batches for 10 secs then lift out into the iced water.

2. Drain and peel the tomatoes then halve and place on a baking tray cut side up. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and the sugar. Drizzle with the vinegar and 1 tbsp of the olive oil. Roast the tomatoes for 1hr until semi-dried and set aside.

3. Heat the remaining oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion and carrot gently for about 10 mins until very soft. Add the tied herbs and garlic and cook for a minute more.

4.Stir in the tomato purée then tip in the roasted tomatoes and any juices from the tray. Pour over the stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil then turn the heat down and simmer for 10 mins.

5.Remove the tied herbs and discard. Add the mascarpone then take off the heat, blitz well with a hand blender. If you want a smoother soup then it can be sieved but this isn’t really necessary.

6. The soup can now be cooled and kept for 3 days in the fridge or frozen for up to 1 month. For a dinner party, serve the soup with a sprig of thyme and a drizzle of good quality olive oil. Enjoy with some delicious bread – you can find my tried and tested bread recipe here.

Post updated 17th February 2020.

The post Roasted tomato and mascarpone soup appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

We love pasta, and have recently been trying out lots of new recipes You may have guessed from the picture that we didn’t use fusilli here, but instead went for some elk-shaped pasta that I found in Ikea (we love novelty pasta too, haha!). This is a simple but delicious dish that is perfect for a week night – if you’re making it veggie then make sure you use a veggie substitute for the Parmesan.

This recipe comes from Gino D’Acampo’s ‘Gino’s Pasta‘ and serves 4.

Ingredients

45g salted butter
250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
2 leeks, washed and sliced 0.5cm thick
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
250g mascarpone cheese
3 tablespoons freshly chopped chives
4 pinches cayenne pepper (we used sweet smoked paprika instead)
500g fusilli
60 freshly grated Parmesan cheese (or veggie alternative)

Method

1. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the mushrooms, leeks and garlic and fry for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.

2. Spoon in the mascarpone and continue to cook for a further minute, stirring continuously. Stir in the chives and cayenne pepper, season with salt and remove from the heat.

3. Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain and tip back into the same pan.

4. Pour in the mushroom sauce and stir everything together for 30 seconds to allow the flavours to combine.

5. Divide between four serving plates, sprinkle over the Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

We actually cooked the pasta whilst cooking the veg because Tom likes his food really hot, so you could do it that way too if you prefer. Enjoy!

The post Fusilli with chestnut mushrooms, leeks and mascarpone cheese appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.