[CH] lotsapepper soup
Chad A Gard (gard@indy.net)
Tue, 26 Mar 2002 11:46:08 -0500
Well, due to the weather cancelling my other plans, I made a nifty
soup last night. Thought I'd pass on the quasi-recipe, one for the
more moderate folks (like me). It's basically an improved bell
pepper soup, and, of course, lots of room for substitutions
Lotsapepper soup
2 red bell peppers
2 orange bell peppers
2 green bell peppers
1 large yellow onion, chopped fine
1 large (orange) carrot, minced
3 cups chicken stock
1 head (not clove) (white) garlic, minced
1 cupish white wine (I used Lorna Dune Reisling, 2000 - very good,
only $7/bottle)
1 dried (dark reddish) new mex pepper
3 dried (deep red) thai hots
1 lbs (grayish-brown) hot italian sausage, casings removed, browned (optional)
olive oil (yellowish)
1/2 handfull of whole (black-brown) peppercorns
1 C plain yogurt
1 pkg (16 oz) frozen (yellow) whole-kernel corn
to taste - sea salt (white), ground
roast the bell peppers by your preferred method, or whichever seems
most convenient at the time (since it was freezing-raining, I opted
to use the broiler rather than the grill). Meanwhile, brown the
sausage while chopping the onion, mincing the garlic and carrot, and
heating up the chicken stock in a 4 quart dutch oven or stock pot.
Drain the sausage and set aside.
In same skillet, saute the onion, carrot and garlic in olive oil
until tender, but don't allow the colors to change. Meanwhile, peel
and chop the bell peppers. Add to skillet and saute a few minutes
more.
Add contents of skillet to stock, which should now be boiling. Add
wine. Add water as needed to bring level to within about 1 inch of
the top of the pot. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, grind new mex and thai peppers in coffee grinder (remember
to remove the stems first!) and crush the peppercorns in a mortar and
pestle (you could probably use a pepper mill on its coarsest setting.
However, mine broke...).
Add ground peppers and crushed black pepper to pot. Using a hand
blender, puree until quite smooth. temper yogurt by adding about 1 C
of soup to it, then add mixture to pot. Blend in yogurt. Adjust
seasoning.
Add corn and cooked sausage, and heat for about 15 minutes, being
careful not to boil. Yum!
------
coupla notes..
1) I'm not terribly pleased with the sausage. I added it primarily
'cause I wanted more of a "hearty" soup to go with the icky weather,
but for pure flavor, I think it could go either way. Perhaps a
different sausage would be better, but it'd be quite good without.
2) While we're removing the sausage, we might as well make it
vegetarian. One could probably use vegetable stock or even plain
water with good results.
3) Ironically, though I made this for cold, icky weather, it could
probably be modified slightly to make a good cold soup, by simply
removing the sausage, and adding the corn earlier, and pureeing the
corn as well.
4) Also might be quite tasty to add a bunch more chile, a bit of
paprika, and substitute sour cream for the yogurt...
--
Chad Gard, KB9WXQ
INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder
SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3
INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21