Bring Colour into your Life

When it rains look for a rainbow. When it is dark look for the stars.
So on a dull November day make sure you put colour on your plate. We are always being advised to eat at least three portions of vegetables and two portions of fruit every day. they have to be as varied as possible and all different. No point in eating two bananas, that would still only be one portion.

Today I made Roasted red pepper soup and spinach pie, so managed to have green, red, orange and white. Only purple was missing. just the thing to brighten up the day and sure enough the sun came out.


Roasted Red Pepper soup and Spinach Pie

2 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tin of tomatoes or passata
chopped basil
salt and pepper

Wash the peppers and then cut them into quarters removing the white bits. Put them in a roasting pan and bake in a hot oven 180 for about ten minutes until the skin comes away.
Transfer them to a dish and cover with cling film to make it easier to remove the skins and then chop them. A friend of mine from the south of Italy wraps them in newspaper to make it easier to take off the skins.

Put the pastry base into the hot oven to dry it out while you prepare the filling.
Cook and drain the spinach then mix with two eggs and beat well. Add any cheese you have on hand and season well with salt and pepper and nutmeg.
Bake in the oven for 25 minutes and then sprinkle with pine nuts and put I t back in the oven for another ten minutes.

Meanwhile put the carrots, onion and garlic in a saucepan and cover with water, about one litre. Bring to the boil and season with a stock cube or salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes and cook until the carrots are soft.  Add the roasted peppers and whizz with a hand held blender. Check the seasoning and sprinkle with basil.
If liked you can add cream to serve.

Listen to Donovan sing about colours while you are cooking.