We’ve finally hit spring. This week was Aiden’s spring break from school. Easter is just around the corner. My tulips are growing in the garden. It’s time to start trimming back old branches, fertilizing, planting new seeds, and all those other garden tasks. Spring is here!
Spring break has been so relaxing. You wouldn’t think getting one child to kindergarten on time every morning would be so challenging… but strangely it is. It’s been so nice to let the kids stay in PJs entirely too late into the day and drink my coffee in bed in the morning before getting moving on the days tasks. We’ve mostly been running light errands (groceries, a little clothes shopping, taking a bag or two to Goodwill), relaxing around the house, reading, watching movies, and working in the garden. Man do I love spring break.
But, spring break or not, here in Colorado the weather is still back and forth, and it’s been driving me crazy figuring out what I want to cook for dinner lately. It’s been 65*-70* most of the week; but it also got rather chilly and snowed once…brrr. (Though it was all melted by the next day.) I hear that tomorrow is supposed to be 80*. The mostly nicer weather has me wanting to jump right into spring and summer-esque recipes, while the occasional snowy day still has me craving something warm.
I finally ended up compromising, with a recipe that ended up turning into todays post. No summer salads for dinner quite yet; but no hearty stews either. Today I’m sharing a light, fresh, veggie filled, but still warm soup! That’s roasted red pepper soup to be exact. Not too heavy, uber healthy from all those veggies, kinda spring-ish if I do say so myself. But this is soup, so it’s still warm enough to take the cool evening spring chill away when you come in from gardening. Top this violent red beauty with goat cheese crumbles and crisp parmesan crusted croutons and you’ve got a winner here my friends, that just so happens to be perfect for spring.
Other then being just perfect for the weather, this dish is really nice in that it requires a minimal amount of chopping/prep and very few ingredients. It takes a little bit of time to make, but most of that is hands off time, spent letting the peppers roast in the oven, and then cook down and meld with the other ingredients before pureeing. So you can spend more time in the garden while dinner bubbles away. I highly recommend making the soup in a dutch oven so you can go right from the oven to the stove top without creating additional pans to wash.
I also highly recommend serving this soup with grilled cheese as a nice change up from the usual tomato. But even if you serve it all on it’s own with just the croutons and goat cheese it makes a great dinner. Enjoy. Happy Spring!
Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Goat Cheese and Parmesan Herbed Croutons
Soup
- 8-10 red bell peppers
- 3 carrots
- drizzle of olive oil (about 1 tablespoon)
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 32 oz vegetable broth or stock
- water as needed
- sea salt and black pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
Parmesan Crusted Croutons
- 6 slices of thick white bread (Texas toast, or sourdough works particularly well)
- drizzle of olive oil (about 1/2 tablespoon)
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- sea salt and black pepper to taste
- goat cheese crumbles to garnish
Soup
1. Preheat the oven to 400*. Wash the bell peppers and carrots well. Cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and stems, and place the halves in a dutch oven or other oven safe pan. Cut the tops off the carrots and add them to the dutch oven. Drizzle about one tablespoon of olive oil over the vegetables. Place the dutch oven in the oven and allow the vegetables to roast until fragrant and tender, 1 – 1 and 1/2 hours. The peppers and carrots will char slightly. This is ok.
2. When the vegetables have been roasted transfer the dutch oven to the stove top, set the heat to medium high. Add the garlic powder, chili powder, paprika, and vegetable broth to the dutch oven. Allow the liquid in the pot to come to a gentle boil, then reduce to a simmer. Allow the vegetables to simmer in the broth for 30 minutes to an hour.
3. When the vegetables have simmered, and are completely tender, use a hand mixer or blender to completely puree the soup until thick and almost creamy. Add additional water when pureeing as needed to maintain the desired constancy. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. About five minutes before serving stir in the 1/4 cup heavy cream. Allow the soup to simmer for five minutes to re-heat after the addition of the cream. Serve hot topped with croutons and goat cheese crumbles.
Parmesan Crusted Croutons
1. Preheat the oven to 350*. Cut the bread into large cubes. Place on a foil line baking tray. Drizzle the bread with olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
2. Bake at 350* for 10-15 minutes until golden brown and crisp. Check and turn the croutons at 5-8 minutes to ensure all sides brown evenly.
Leave a Reply