Red Pepper Soup 🌶🌶🌶

Peeps, we got a winner here!! This was a first for me and I must say I’m in love. Served hot or chilled, this soup is a sure to please starter to a special meal. Of course, it’s the star of its own meal too. Simply serve with a savory dressed green salad and you’re good to go 🥗. The best part about this soup is how truly easy it is. Most of my soups on the blog are easy; it’s a rare luxury to have the time to futz with a soup that has many steps. On a typically rushed weeknight, dinner has got to be unfussy; there’s simply too much going on. Cooking shouldn’t add to that chaos. After all, food is comfort. My daughter really loved this one. It was a nice change from the root vegetables I often use to make soups this time of year. And the color is just lovely; it was like a shade of vermillion.

Ingredients:

Six large red bell peppers

A medium onion chopped

Three tbsp vegetable oil

One can of chickpeas drained and rinsed

Four to six cups of vegetable or chicken broth

A tsp of cumin

1 tsp dried basil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp smoked chili powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

Chop and seed the peppers and set aside. Heat the oil in a large soup pot and sauté the onions. When the onions become translucent, add the balsamic, cumin, chili powder, and dried basil. Spicing the onions with the vinegar gives a fantastic undertone to the soup. It’s a great trick for really ensuring that your base will be special.

Sauté the spiced onions a minute or two more. Add the chopped/sliced peppers and a cup of broth. Sauté until softened about 15 minutes. You can alternate the sautéing with keeping the pot lid on to sweat the peppers. This speeds up the softening process.

Add rest of broth, salt and pepper, and the chickpeas. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes. Blend with a soup blender, adjust salt and pepper if needed, and serve. 🥗🥖.