389.roasted pepper soup

a perfect winter soup

     My son had bought 6 coloured peppers, forgetting that his dad does not like them. Hubby dear claims that even the sweet peppers make his tummy burn. Every evening my son would remind me to make something with the peppers before they get spoilt. With a few I made roasted sweet pepper pesto and with the rest I made some soup. For hubby dear I made mushroom soup. It was raining that day in Montreal, so hot soup was a treat to ward off the cold. The first spoon full went into his mouth and my son immediately commended that it's an excellent soup for winter. I tried out this soup for the first time and had to blog it so that it can be repeated again. Browsed through many recipes and taking tips from here and there put the soup together in a pot.
    The idea of using ready made stock does not come to my mind easily as it's not available in Kenya. A few days ago my son made his style of broccoli soup(it was absolutely yummy) and used vegetable stock from a packet. I was amazed! Usually I try to add various flavours, herbs and spices to make the soup more interesting. So bearing in mind that I will not get ready made stock at home, I flavoured the water with a few spices. Brilliant move, as the soup had a subtle flavour of the spices.

ROASTED SWEET PEPPER SOUP
4 servings

1 red sweet pepper
1 orange sweet pepper
1 yellow sweet pepper
1 medium onion
6 to 8 cloves of garlic
2- 2½ cups water
1 star anise
1 one inch cinnamon stick
6 cloves
3 tbsp fresh thyme (or 1 tbsp dried thyme)
1 tsp coarse pepper powder
½ -1 tsp red chilli powder
1-1½ tsp salt
1 cup tomato puree
olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Cut peppers into half. Remove the stem and seeds.
3. Rub olive over it and place it in a baking tray with the cut side down.
4. Peel and cut the onion into quarters and place in the baking tray.
5. Peel garlic and place it in the baking tray.
6. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the onion and garlic.
7. Roast the vegetables at 180° C for 25 to 30 minutes.
8. In the meantime boil the water. Add star anise, cinnamon and cloves to it. Take the water off the heat. Cover and keep on the side till required.
9. When the peppers are done, remove the skin from them.
10. Cut the peppers into big chunks.
11. Put the pepper chunks, onion and garlic into a food processor. Process till its course and not completely smooth.
12. Remove the spices from the water and heat it up again.
13. Add the coarse mixture of pepper, onion and garlic to the water.
14. Add tomato puree, thyme, red chilli powder, salt and coarse pepper powder.
15. Mix the soup and let it become hot but not boiling.
16. Serve immediately. 

Tips:

• Processing the peppers into coarse pieces, gives the soup a colourful hue of red, orange and yellow and a wholesome texture.
• To remove thyme from the stem, hold the stem between your thumb and forefinger and pull the leaves in the opposite direction or growth.
• I used fresh tomato puree. I allowed the tomatoes to cook over low heat for a while till they became soft. Then I processed the tomatoes in a blender without adding any water.
• The soup tasted delicious with some sour dough bread.
• Try adding another herb of your preference.

You may want to check out the following:

pak choi, bean sprout and noodle soup

roasted pumpkin and salsa soup

swiss chard vegetable soup

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