Dan made soup.

Last night as I laid under the covers flipping through a magazine before bed I stumbled across a recipe that excited me enough that it was all I could think about today (well almost....obviously I was thinking about other goofy things as well...but that's another story for another time). Sitting at my desk this afternoon my mind was made-up that I was going to come straight home to attempt to make what hopefully become the first of many batches of roasted red pepper & tomato soup. From scratch....even the roasting.

And while by no means is this is a food blog, I ended up impressed enough with my end results that I figured that it was worth sharing the recipe. It's not often that I stumble across a new recipe that's as fool proof as this one...that said, make sure you block off about 1-1/2 to 2 hours to make your own batch...it takes a bitta time to get everything just right! 

Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup

4 red peppers (I always buy the smaller bagged ones....if they're larger, use 3)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (buy the good stuff!)

1 cup diced sweet onion

3 cloves of garlic (or if you're like me and don't wanna go overboard with garlic-y fun, use 1/2 tsp of ready minced garlic)

1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (chop it fairly fine)

1 28 oz can of whole or diced stewing tomatoes (grab the basic ones without added spices)

1 cup of water

1 pinch of sea salt

1 tsp of granulated sugar

So, first off, you'll want to preheat your oven to 375F. Wash your peppers, cut the tops off, discarding the seeds and inner membranes. Grab a baking sheet (or a cake pan), line with parchment paper, placing peppers cut side down. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until blistered looking.

Once your peppers are ready, you'll want to place them in a bowl (I used tongs to do this); cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap....this lets the peppers steam and loosens the skins. Leave for 20 minutes.

While your peppers are steaming, grab a large pot and heat your olive oil over medium heat. Toss in your garlic, onion and rosemary. Saute for ten minutes (ps. your place will smell amazing!), or until everything is softened. 

At this time, you'll want to peel your peppers....which can get messy....and then add to the pot, followed by your can of tomatoes, water, salt and sugar. Cover and cook on medium heat for 20-25 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Once your soup has finished cooking, you're going to want to grab your blender  (or in my case lug out your blender....I swear, I own the first blender ever made...so heavy) at which point you'll want to puree small batches (I did about a quarter of my soup per batch). 

Pour your pureed soup into bowls and serve with a drizzling of olive oil, crumpled cheese and fresh rosemary sprigs (the oil drizzle really sets it off).

Even though it took awhile, this is hands down one of the easiest recipes that I've tried as of late. In the end I think I may have ended up with about 4 decent sized servings of soup. I'm thinking the next time I make it I'll definitely double the batch.

If you're in a hurry and are starving...grab some canned soup, if you've got some time to play around (and have a chocolate bar in the freezer that you can nibble on like me....), then this recipe is so worth trying!

So after making this recipe as well as the pumpkin soup that I made last Thanksgiving, I now know that I've basically figured out pureed soups....I'm thinking it's time to crack out the slow cooker and see what sorta stew I can dream up....mmm.....stew! Something meaty, flavorful and filling (get your minds out of the gutter)!

Stew tuned! Haha.

D-


***Recipe based on the roasted red pepper & tomato soup recipe featured in the February 2012 Style at Home magazine