A perfect recipe to bridge the gap between autumn and winter. As tomatoes come to the end of the season you’re always left with a few knobbly, gnarly ones, not pretty enough for a salad, but with all the flavour needed for this robust, warming dish. The harissa gives it a lovely kick, just what’s needed for a blustery autumnal lunch and the salty crunch of the kale finishes it off perfectly.
For the Harissa paste
2 red chillies
1 tsp toasted coriander seeds (blitzed)
1tsp toasted cumin seeds (blitzed)
1 clove garlic
1 good tsp tomato paste
2 red peppers roasted, peeled & deseeded
Juice & zest of 1 lime
Mint small handful
A few coriander stalks
A good glug of Sherry vinegar
Seasoning
Olive oil
Put all ingredients apart from oil in food processor and blitz. Then add oil slowly until you have a fairly thick paste but not to finely blitzed. It will keep perfectly in the fridge for a few days and goes wonderfully with some toasted pita or flatbreads.
For the Soup & Crispy kale
2kg tomatoes
2 red onions
3 cloves garlic
1 425g tin chick peas
200g kale
Salt and pepper
For the soup halve tomatoes and place in a roasting tray with roughly chopped red onion and a couple of cloves of smashed garlic. Add a good coating of your harissa paste and mix well. Season & drizzle with oil and roast in oven for 30-40 mins @175c. Remove from oven and add 1 tin of chickpeas and their water. Either with a stick blender or food processor blitz to your chosen consistency & check the seasoning.
For the kale, wash and strip the leaves from the stems and leave to drain. Then scrunch up the leaves with rapeseed oil, salt and pepper and spread out over a baking tray and bake in the oven at 180c for 5 minutes, then toss and bake for another 5 minutes or until crisp
Ladle out the soup, sprinkle over the crispy kale and serve with a hunk of your favourite sourdough and some butter.