September 17, 2012

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Soup Recipe

We had a very nice weekend with family in town to visit. I ate myself silly. Mmmmm. And that means that I'll be starting my diet again today tomorrow. First, I *have to* eat all the rest of the junk food that's still here so it won't be around to tempt me on my diet. :)
 I've noticed that A LOT of people are getting sick around here. Including us. My little guy is only just well enough today to return to school again. So I decided that I'd post a recipe of my favorite thing to make during cold and flu season.
Seriously this is the BEST thing in the world when  you're sick. Move over chicken noodle! 
Roasted Red Bell Pepper Soup
*sigh*
6-8 red bell peppers
4 TBS sesame/olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 TBS thyme
2 TBS basil
1/2 tsp cayenne (or to taste, I always use at least twice this much)
2 tsp salt
1 can coconut milk  (NOTE: Must be the kind in a can, not a carton. And don't get the lite/low fat version, it's nasty and this is just freakin coconut milk for heaven's sake.)

OR you can use some heavy cream instead of the coconut milk, about 1 cup to 1 pint of that. Whatever.

2- 32oz cartons of broth (vegetable or chicken)
Cut peppers in half, remove seeds and stem. Score the inside with a fork (helps to cook faster).

Place peppers skin side up.

Broil on high for 10-15 minutes, until most of the outer skin is black.
Remove from oven and allow to cool. (If you cover them while they cool, they sort of steam and the skins are SO much easier to get off!) Remove (and discard) as much skin as you can, but don't be too fussy.
While peppers are broiling, in a large soup pot, heat oil, onion, celery, thyme, basil, and salt. Cook until veggies are tender (10-12 minutes) stirring often. Add the garlic and cayenne for the last couple minutes of that. Then add the broth and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add the roasted/peeled peppers to the soup. Then you can either use an immersion blender to make it all smooth, OR you can do what I do, and just stick it in your upright blender. If you do it in your blender, it will fill it twice, so you'll need an "in between" pan so that unblended soup doesn't meet blended soup... because all of it needs to be nicely pureed.
After all of it is blended, return it to your pot over low to medium heat and stir in the coconut milk (or cream). Simmer for 10 minutes.
Serve.

I make TONS of this in the summer when I have lots of bell peppers growing in my garden, and when the store has halfway decent prices on them. Then I freeze it in pint sized freezer bags. It gets us through cold and flu season every year. Seriously, I can NOT survive a bad cold without this.

9 comments:

  1. MMmm this sounds so tasty. I will have to try it next time the cold strikes our house!

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  2. That makes so much sense! Since peppers have Vitamin C and all. (Right?? Am I thinking correctly?) Either way, I want to try that this winter. I'm not a huge fan of chicken soup :)

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  3. Wow - that sounds delicious! I'm totally going to give this a shot.

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  4. if i liked peppers i would totally try this, but alas my five year old junk food diet wont allow me to eat such a delicacy :)

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  5. Mmmmmmmmmm! Copy and paste this post! I might even put some kale in it! Lol! Cooking question: I'm allergic to celery...do you have a substitute you would recommend? I've tried chard stems and that was a mistake!

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  6. In case you couldn't tell from this post, I'm a bell pepper freak. They're my very favorite vegetable. So if I were to substitute anything for celery, it would probably be a green bell pepper. It gives the fresh green taste with some crunch and juiciness. If not that, then maybe some fresh fennel, though that has a much sweeter flavor.... Maybe cucumber or asparagus? I guess nothing is quite like celery. Hmmmm. Overall, I'm sticking with a green bell pepper. :)

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  7. Wow, I might try this soon-- I have some leftover (canned) coconut milk to use up. We also just made a TON of chicken soup. Maybe a trial run with both next time we get sick to see what we prefer? hmmmm...

    Any secrets to freezing something for so long and having it still turn out fine? I ruin EVERYTHING in the freezer no matter what I do!

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  8. I don't really have a secret to it. I usually double bag everything. But really, I just use freezer bags and "burp" all the air out, nothing fancy. I haven't had a problem with this yet... but it doesn't last too long in our house. I make it in the late summer and it's always gone before March... no matter how much I make, it's always gone. LOL. That might be the secret, use it fast. ;)

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  9. This looks very yummy. Thanks for sharing!

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