Yellow Pepper Soup

Love, love, love this one. I developed it just for y’all last week. The blog is good for me in that it demands I keep my creative juices flowing and active. I made a fabulous red pepper soup in the winter, so I wanted to try one with its yellow cousin for summer. This soup can be served at any temperature, perfect as a cold shooter or appetizer on a hot day. It has a solid kick because of the jalapeño that was sautéed with the onion and garlic in the initial aromatic stage. I myself do not like spicy foods but I did like this, meaning you feel the jalapeño but it’s not really spicy. To lessen that just use half the jalapeño instead of the whole. As always when working with jalapeños, make sure you carefully scrape away the fiery seeds. And ALWAYS wash your hands we’ll immediately after handling them. God help you if you mindlessly rub your eye.

Ingredients:

Eight yellow peppers sliced

A jalapeño (whole or half) carefully seeded and diced

A Spanish or large yellow onion diced

3 cloves fresh minced garlic

6 cups vegetable stock or broth

1 tsp each smoked paprika and Zatar

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 1/2 tsp salt and a scant 1/2 tsp pepper

One or two stalks of fresh rosemary tied tightly in a mesh bouquet garnish bag or cheesecloth

Directions:

Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in a medium size soup pot. Sauté onions and jalapeño until the onions turn really fragrant and translucent. Deglaze as needed with a couple tablespoons of vegetable broth as the pot dries out. Add the minced garlic and sauté a couple more minutes. I add the garlic at the end since it gets brown so quickly. As the garlic gets fragrant add the smoked paprika and Zatar. Add the white wine vinegar. Mix and let the aromatics all blend a couple minutes. Then add the sliced yellow peppers and veg broth. Add the salt and pepper. I didn’t use the full half tsp of pepper. I’m always wary of over peppering; you can always add the extra dash later. Stir all well. Place the rosemary bundle in the pot so it’s nestled amongst the other components. Cover the pot and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Once the soup is at an active simmer, lower the flame to medium low. I like to usually keep lids on while the soup is cooking. Let the soup simmer 45 minutes, stirring every so often. When the peppers are really soft turn off the flame. Let it sit and calm down for about a half hour, if you have time, then remove the rosemary bundle and blend until smooth. Enjoy hot, room temp, or cold. Souper.