Puréed Tomato and Red Pepper Soup
Updated Feb. 9, 2023
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
- 2red bell peppers, roasted
- 2tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1medium onion, chopped
- ½cup diced carrot
- ½cup diced celery
- Salt to taste
- 4large garlic cloves, minced
- 128-ounce can chopped tomatoes with juice
- ¼cup tomato paste
- 2sprigs fresh basil
- Pinch of cinnamon
- ½teaspoon sugar (optional)
- 1½quarts vegetable stock or water
- ¼cup rice, preferably a medium-grain rice like arborio
- Freshly ground pepper
- Garlic croutons (toast thin slices of bread, rub with a cut clove of garlic, and cut into squares)
- Freshly grated Parmesan
- Slivered fresh basil leaves
For Garnish (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Roast the peppers as directed, allow to cool in a covered bowl, then peel, seed and dice. Set aside.
- Step 2
Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy soup pot and add the onion. Cook, stirring often, until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes, and add the carrot and celery and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are tender and fragrant, about 5 more minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Add the tomatoes with their liquid, the tomato paste, basil sprigs, cinnamon, sugar if using, and salt to taste. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have cooked down slightly and smell fragrant, about 10 minutes.
- Step 3
Add the diced roasted peppers, the stock or water, rice, and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes, stirring from time to time. Season with freshly ground pepper, taste and adjust salt. Remove the basil sprigs.
- Step 4
Using a hand blender, purée the soup, or use a blender and purée in batches, being careful to pull a dish towel down over the top and not to cover tightly with the blender lid, then return to the pot and heat through. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve topped with croutons, Parmesan cheese, and/or slivered basil.
- Advance preparation: This will keep for about 3 days in the refrigerator and can be frozen.
Private Notes
Comments
Cooked rice? The recipe does not call for already cooked rice.
Here is the link to Martha Rose Shulman's article about roasting the peppers: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/health/22recipehealth.html?ref=peppers
Fantastic and delicious, even though I used jarred peppers (they had to be used). There were four of them, and made for a nice pepper/tomato balance in the finished soup.
I made the recipe as is and found the soup not too tomatoey as someone commented nor was the rice not cooked. I used white arborio rice which cooked perfectly in 30 minutes. I find that flavors come out without pureeing and one gets much more fiber by not pureeing the veggies in a soup. I could really taste the roasted peppers. The soup made a great lunch along with a nice piece of sourdough toast.
Love this recipe but made some changes this time to change the flavor profile that added a more smoky flavor. Added more onion, didn't have carrots. After l sautéed the onions, celery garlic (always add way more ) l carmelized the tomato paste with about a teaspoon pimentón (spanish smoked paprika). Added about a lb. fresh chopped tomatoes that l needed to use up, 1 can tomatoes, 3 cups chicken broth, a few sprigs fresh thyme (skipped basil, cinnamon, sugar) rice and 1 ancho chile and 6 jarred roasted red & yellow greek peppers also needed to use up. Served it with a grilled cheese sourdough sandwich. We both enjoyed and happy to have leftovers in the fridge for a couple lunches.
Was really good! Used San marzano tomatoes and tomato paste, also added roasted garlic in herb oil (from Whole Foods). For the red peppers roasted over open flame on a skewer until skin was charred, then peeled and diced when cool. Also grated Gouda cheese with chilies over the soup.