Soup of the Week Returns! – Sweet Red Pepper Soup

I love soup. All the time.

I like to make a pot of something and keep it around for lunches and quick dinners during the week. But somehow I got out of the habit. Maybe it was all this business of starting jobs and ending jobs that we had this summer. Maybe it was back at The Great Clean and Purge when I was ousted from my kitchen for a few days.

I realized I missed my soup. And really, there is no better way to deal with an overabundance of CSA veggies than to whip up some soup. I had a bumper crop of red and orange peppers to use and I can’t get the Hub to eat a stuffed pepper to save his life.

So I’m bringing soup back.

One thing I’ve learned about soup is that if you think there is probably a recipe for something out there, you’re right. Take lettuce soup. Yup. I had way too much lettuce back in the spring and I figured there had to be something called lettuce soup. Sure enough, there is. But I’ll save that one for another day.

This time around, we’re going with Sweet Red (and orange) Pepper Soup. This sort of comes from the Red Pepper Soup recipe in Alice Waters‘ The Art of Simple Food, a book I absolutely love. I found a sweet pepper soup recipe somewhere in my Pinterest searching and it seemed to be a variation of the Waters recipe, so I just went straight to the source.

If you’ve been here for Soup of the Week before, you know I did nothing like follow the recipe exactly, but I was faithful-ish to this one. Here we go…

Sweet Red and Orange Pepper Soup (adapted from Alice Waters’ Red Pepper Soup)

*If you follow the Waters’ recipe, you’ll get two quarts (about 4 to 6 servings). The way I adapted it, I ended up with a standard Mason jar, plus a 12 ounce and a 6 ounce jar to give away.

What you need:

• Olive oil
• 1 large onion, sliced fine (Mine was probably more like medium.)
• 2 red bell peppers, cut in half, seeds and veins removed, and sliced fine (I used the red and orange peppers like you see in the photo above. I don’t know how many I had – 6 or 7 or 8? I did weigh them, though, and it was about 11 ounces. And they were just chopped, not sliced fine.)
• Salt
• 2 garlic cloves (Um, I used like 5 or 6.)
• 6 thyme springs, leaves only (I used what was about the equivalent in dried because I did not have fresh on hand.)
• 1/4 cup short-grain rice (I used 1/3 cup brown.)
• 4 cups chicken broth (I used about 7 vegetable, my own homemade from the freezer.)
• 2 cups water (I skipped this since I had so much broth already.)
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar because I saw that substituted on the pin I found, and I liked the sound of it better. I put in a good glug, second-guessed myself, and added another glug.)

What to do:

In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, peppers, and salt, and cook over medium heat until “very soft but not browned.”

Add the garlic and thyme and cook for about 4-5 minutes.

Add the rice, broth/water, and vinegar. If you look closely, you can see my action pour in this photo. Pretty cool, right?

Raise heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the rice is tender, about 20-25 minutes. (Mine was fine, even though it was brown rice and technically should have taken longer.)

Cool slightly, then puree in blender until “very smooth and velvety.” Thin with broth or water if too thick. Taste for seasoning, adjust as needed, and serve hot.

Additional Notes:

• I added salt and pepper at the end because I thought it needed it.
• I felt like the soup tasted much too acidic. I’m sure it’s because I used two glugs of AC vinegar, rather than the little bit the original recipe called for.
• I tossed in maybe 20-ish grape and cherry sized heirloom tomatoes that were too squishy for salad, but not enough to make juice. Because why not? This could have had something to do with the acidity issue, too.
• You can use red, orange, or even yellow peppers for this soup. Stay away from green, though, they aren’t sweet enough. If you have too many green peppers in your life, try this roasted green pepper soup.

To correct the acidity problem, I turned to Google and found a quick fix here at The Kitchn. To compensate for too much acid, add about 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda to the soup, let it do its chemical reaction thing (fascinating), then taste again. I still wasn’t entirely pleased, so I added some light cream.

At this point, the Hub suggested that I stop second-guessing myself and fussing with it and just leave it alone. I actually listened to him and put the soup into the Mason jars. Despite my lack of enthusiasm for the initial result, I gave a jar to both my Mother-in-Law and my Mom and decided to see if it turned out OK after everything had a chance to “marry” overnight.

Turns out it was just fine. My Mother-in-Law said it was delicious and my Mom said that while she isn’t a fan of pepper soup, it was a very good recipe. I could not get the Hub or Kidzilla to try this one – not pepper fans – but I have had it twice since I made it and I am calling it my best soup yet.

Mom and Mother-in-Law both ate it straight because I failed to remember to offer any serving suggestions. I had mine with a dollop of Greek yogurt and chives. Some buttered sourdough bread makes a great addition, too.

This soup was light, yet satisfying (probably thanks to the rice), and velvety is definitely a good word. It was quick and easy, so it’s great for a day when you don’t have much time. And I love that it’s loaded with vitamin C, which makes it a great option for fighting a cold.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Way too sour so I tried this:

http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-rescue-what-to-do-when-131736