I’ve been really busy at the restaurant lately with start of the holiday season and as a result I haven’t been able to create any new specials.  However, I did make a soup today that I’d like to share with you, Charred Sweet Bell Pepper and Tomato Soup.  The color of this soup is really vivid, the flavor is sweet and smoky and the texture is creamy and smooth.  What more could you ask for?

To start, I char the peppers (red and yellow) on the grill over high heat (turning often), but you can also roast in a 400 degree oven until charred and soft.  Once the peppers are evenly charred, set aside in a bowl until they are cool enough to handle.  Once the peppers are cool, remove the stem and seeds (but keep the skins on) and set aside. 

While the peppers are roasting, rough chop the mirepoix and caramelize in a large pan until golden.  Add chopped garlic and sauté for a few more minutes and deglaze with white wine and brandy (I like using brandy because it goes well with the sweetness of the pepper).  Once the wine/brandy is reduced, stir in tomato paste, chopped thyme and bayleaf.  Next, add your charred peppers and tomatoes and chicken stock to almost cover.  You can make this soup without tomatoes, but I prefer an acidic balance to the sweet peppers and I also like the color that the tomatoes provide.  Normally, I would roast fresh roma tomatoes, but today I decided to use good quality canned tomatoes and they work just as well.   Just remember, if you want the soup to taste like bell peppers then you need to add less tomatoes.

Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cook for about an hour until the vegetables are soft.  Prior to the last 15 minutes of cooking, add a small amount of heavy cream and butter (both optional) and season with salt and pepper to taste.

At work, we use an industrialized hand-held blender called an immersion blender (or a Bermixer) and it works really well for blending soups to a smooth consistency.  The longer you blend the smoother it gets.  If you don’t have a heavy-duty, hand-held blender you could use a regular blender or a food processor.  However, if you use a food processor, you may want to strain the soup through a large strainer to capture any large skins/fibers from the peppers.  And if you use a blender, then the soup will be thicker and you’ll need to adjust the consistency with stock, water or cream.  To finish the soup, taste again; add some lemon juice and salt to bring it all together. 

I chose to garnish this soup with a contrasting color so that the garnish would really pop against the color of the soup. The fried flat-leaf parsley against the burnt sienna color looks beautiful.  You need to be careful when frying parsley and using it as a garnish because the flavor becomes bitter.  But against the sweetness of the bell peppers, it works perfectly and has a nice balance.

Enjoy!!