Alright. I recently made what is possibly the best soup I have ever made. Or eaten. Seriously. Here is the deal. I went to the farmer's market in Echo Park as I usually do on Friday nights, with pals Nick & Ellie and also new pals Lindsey & Judd, and we began to formulate our meal as we walked along the first few stalls. Nick & Ellie were already planning ot cook a beautiful piece of salmon that a friend caught himself in lovely Alaska (hello Matt!)...and Lindsey thought she would make a salad, so I decided a soup might be nice. Especially since there was a bountiful amount of buttermilk and cream in Nick's refrigerator.
We discussed squash, but decided we had all had a lot of that recently. Then my eye grazed a shiny red pepper in the distance, and it was decided. I would make a roasted pepper/veg soup. And I'm glad I did! Here is the short version of my process for the soup.
Grocery List:
3-4 Red/Yellow Bell Peppers
1 Red or Yellow Onion
1/2 head Garlic
2 small Beets (golden preferably)
3-4 med. sized Carrots
a few small Serrano Peppers
Cumin
Salt/Pepper
Slice up bell peppers, onion, garlic, beets, serrano peppers (not crazy spicy, but a good little kick), and a few carrots. Toss these in a bowl with some olive oil, sea salt, pepper, a 1/2 tsp cumin.
Roast in the oven at 425 for about 25 min - checking to be sure they aren't cooking too fast on top. Cover for the first ten minutes with some foil to speed things up.
Take veg out, place in a blender, blend until the nearly liquified, but not totally free of little lumps. I think a few lumps give nice texture. Then pour into a saucepan on the stove, add a cup or so of veg broth, some buttermilk and some cream (you can use fat free milk & just a dash of buttermilk if health conscious though!), whisk together as it heats up. Add more salt to taste, and 1 T or so of sesame oil, and 3-4 T maple syrup. Taste again, see if it needs more salt or spice or sweet.
When serving, add a dollop of buttermilk or sour cream, or a drizzle of sesame oil. The finished soup is extremely rich and nutty! So so good for the wintertime.
This amount worked well for 5 people, and the recipe could be doubled for a larger group. I got so excited about it that I poured it over Ellie and Nick's salmon and THEN put the pomegranate salad that Lindsey made on top of it all!
What a great combination. Go team! Thanks to Nick for the pictures.
P.S. This would be DELICIOUS served in a partially hollowed out acorn squash, pumpkin, or other such gourd.
P.P.S. My good friend Maggie may be making this for a baby shower tomorrow, and I hope she will give us a full report on how it turns out!
Below you can view the pics in chronological order and see the process.
Done roasting!
Ready for blending...
All blended up...
A delicious looking pile of veggie liquid...
Adding the maple syrup, buttermilk, veggie broth and skim milk.
All done!
This meal was a collaboration with my sister, Laurel (who assisted me in the kitchen and made some delicious breads) and was created for a party in my stepfather's honor. He just received his masters, in addition to starting an amazing new job. We did out best to make the meal reflect what a great person he is!
Congratulations, Jim!
