Cold weather makes me want a hot bowl of tomato soup. But sometimes I want something a little different. I saw a recipe a while back — I don’t remember in what magazine — for a tomato and artichoke soup and thought it sounded interesting. So I trotted off to the kitchen to play. I came up with a version that’s simple to make but gives you something a little more interesting than your basic bowl of red stuff.

Here’s what you’ll need for Tomato Artichoke Soup with Pesto Garnish:

1 large can crushed tomatoes (salt free if available)
1 small can whole fire roasted tomatoes (crush or snip them into pieces with kitchen scissors)
2 jars fire roasted marinated artichoke hearts
1 large roasted bell pepper (either from a jar or done yourself), peeled and seeded*
Grated zest and juice of one good sized lemon, Meyer variety if available
Salt and pepper to taste
Water or broth to thin out soup if desired
A good handful of pine nuts, toasted
A half cup of grated Parmesan

Take one and a half of the jars of artichoke hearts and heat them in a sauce pan. When heated through, add both cans of tomatoes, the red pepper (roughly chopped), and the lemon juice. When hot go at it with a stick blender, or remove it to a blender or food processor. Taste it and add salt and pepper to taste. If it’s really thick, add water, vegetable or chicken broth to thin it out as much as you like.

Take the remaining artichoke hearts, the pine nuts and Parmesan and put in that cute little mini food processor you bought. You did buy one, right? If not, chop everything really fine and remind yourself to go get that mini chopper tomorrow.  Stir in the lemon zest. This is your pesto garnish.

Serve the soup with a dollop of the pesto on top. When I have leftovers of both that I don’t plan on eating the next day, I combine them and go at it with the stick blender again. If you feel decadent, you can add in some cream instead of water or broth to thin it out.

Very yummy!

* To do this yourself, put a whole big pepper in a hot oven, turning every few minutes until blackened and blistered. Put pepper in a paper bag. After 10-15 minutes, the skin should be easy to peel off. Split it open and remove core and seeds. The easier way: buy a jar of roasted red peppers.