Red pepper and red lentil soup with crispy chorizo

I always feel a bit stung when I'm in the grocers or at the supermarket and see the price of fresh peppers.

At around 80 pence each they aren't a cheap and cheerful vegetable by any means, so when you want to make something using a few of them you can soon find yourself changing your mind.

Cue the continental budget supermarkets, Aldi and Lidl - both of who I'm a big fan of. I don't buy everything from them but they do stock some fantastic ingredients like the Which? best budget olive oil (one I use when an olive oil for cooking with is called for) 24 month aged Parmesan and DOP Parma ham that's aged 24 months.

And in the case of this recipe, they sell jars of grilled peppers - around 6 large, juicy and tasty peppers in a jar for less than £1.50 - even with my shady maths skills I know that's a bargain.

Combined with some other delicious and economical red ingredients (not intentional, they just work very well together!) this soup is delicious, with a great texture and intense flavour it regularly features in our house on midweek evenings.

Soup for two:
4 medium sized young chorizo sausages, skinned and diced (when I say young I mean ones that are soft to the touch, rather than aged for much longer and very firm, as these don't cook very well)
12 juicy big tomatoes
1 large red chilli
400g red lentils, cooked as per the pack instructions and set aside
1 large glass of light red wine (like a Beaujolais) or a large glass of full bodied white
1 teaspoon white balsamic vinegar / rice vinegar
Salt and black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Yogurt to serve

Method:
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees
- Quarter all the tomatoes and add half of them to a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper and roast in the oven - shaking a couple of times to stop them catching - for around 40 minutes
- Dice your chorizo and heat a frying pan without any oil on a medium heat (now this bit can create a bit of smoke so open some windows or put on your extractor fan) add the chorizo to the pan, it should sizzle, and cook in the pan for around 7 minutes. Toss the pan frequently, you're looking to caramelise the sides of the chorizo so it's got a great chewy outer and is still succulent and soft inside. Once it's coloured nicely spoon them out of the pan from the fat they've rendered and leave to one side
- Once the tomatoes have roasted for long enough in the oven, place them and the red peppers into a food processor along with the uncooked tomatoes, several glugs of good olive oil, the chilli and a good scrunch of salt and pepper and blitz until smooth
- Place the tomato and pepper mixture into a saucepan and add the wine, heat gently on a medium heat until its simmering, then turn it down and leave the lid off and cook for 6-7 minutes
- Add the lentils and vinegar to the pan, stir to combine and cook for a further five minutes and taste the seasoning, you might want more salt but bear in mind that the chorizo is quite salty
- Ladle into large bowls and top with the crispy chorizo, a dollop of yogurt and a generous glug of extra virgin
- Eat accompanied by a big glass of red and good company