Roasted Garlic Sweet Pepper Soup

You know winter is coming when your sister-in-law puts up her Christmas tree. It’s early, but she loves Christmas. Other signs fall is leaving us: We’ve woken up to frost for the last couple of days, and the boys have finally been persuaded to stop wearing shorts. H.T. and I are going hat hunting this afternoon – he’s got his heart set on a colorful one with long ear flaps. Soups like this Roasted Garlic Sweet Pepper Soup are on the menu at least a couple of times a week.

In spite of the seasonal changes,  my community supported agriculture program continues to deliver bags full of locally grown sweet peppers week after week – it must be a good year for them. I’ve served them roasted, stuffed, and as part of a candied bacon-garnished soup. Today I’m using them in a this colorful, nutritious vegetarian soup flavored with whole-roasted garlic. Fair warning: If you eat this soup, you might want to make sure everyone around you has some too.

This recipe was adapted from one by Better Homes and Garden. I love the combination of the fresh herbs and jalapeño to dress up the simple flavors of the garlic and sweet peppers. It takes about an hour to make this from start to finish, including the time spent letting the peppers stand. At about 140 calories, per serving, double up to make a vegetarian meal or serve this with a salad. Otherwise, it makes a really nice starting course for a heavier meal.

Roasted Garlic Sweet Pepper Soup

 

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Prep time

35 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

1 hour

 

Roasted Garlic Sweet Pepper Soup, colorful, vegan soup flavored with whole-roasted garlic, fresh herbs and a jalapeño pepper. Paleo, gluten free.

Author: three beans on a string

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 2 whole garlic bulbs
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 large red sweet peppers, seeded and quartered
• â…“ cup fresh parsley
• â…“ cup fresh basil leaves
• 1 fresh jalapeno chile pepper, seeded and chopped
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• â…› teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Cut off the tops of the garlic bulbs to expose ends of individual cloves. Leave the garlic whole and peel of the papery outer layers. Place bulbs, cut ends up, and onion in a small baking dish. Sprinkle with rosemary; drizzle with 1 Tablespoon of the oil.
2. Place peppers, cut sides down, on a foil-lined baking sheet. Brush with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.
3. Roast the garlic, onion, and sweet peppers for 20 to 25 minutes or until garlic feels soft when squeezed and peppers are charred and very tender.
4. Bring foil up around peppers and fold edges together to enclose. Let stand about 15 minutes or until cool enough to handle. Squeeze the garlic from the cloves into a bowl.
5. Using a sharp knife, loosen edges of skins; gently pull off skins in strips and discard.
6. In a blender or food processor combine garlic, onion, sweet peppers, parsley, basil leaves, jalapeno pepper, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Cover and blend or process until nearly smooth. Add 1 cup of the broth; cover and blend or process until smooth.
7. Pour the red pepper mixture into a medium sized pot and add the rest of the chicken broth. Heat over medium-high heat until hot and serve immediately.

Notes

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1 cup Calories: 139 Fat: 4.6g Saturated fat: 0.9g Carbohydrates: 19.4g Sugar: 6.6g Sodium: 238mg Fiber: 3g Protein: 6.6g Cholesterol: 4.8mg

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 About the Photograph

In the photo I’m relying heavily on props to liven up what might otherwise look like a ho-hum bowl of soup (the soup doesn’t taste ho hum, so it’s only fair). I love the texture and color of these pretty bowls, which I found on the clearance at Target and had been holding in reserve for just the right photograph. The deep turquoise color is a nice contrast the bright orange of this soup. To add more visual interest, I garnished the soup with mini peppers, using the same floating trick I talked about here.

The napkin in the photograph is actually a textile sample from a decorator shop. I buy fabric scraps by the bag for practically nothing at Shoemaker Country in Ellicott City, MD. Here’s another example of a textile scrap used in one of my photos to create texture.

I took these photos with my  Nikon D80, using a 28mm f2.8 NIKKOR wide angle lens.  I used a Lowell Ego tabletop light like this one, in partial darkness (at about 4 p.m., with all lights in the room turned off but with some limited light coming in from the windows). The light was positioned directly to the right of the food. I used a black foam board on the left side of the food to create shadow. The background is an antique ceiling tile with peeling off-white paint, and the soup is resting on some old barn wood boards. My ISO was set at 640,  the shutter speed was 200, and the aperture was set at 3.5.

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