Yellow Pepper Soup

Kellie blogs regularly at Greenhab: The Browns go Green and the Green Phone Booth.

My family is not very adventurous, to put it mildly, when it comes to vegetables. When I met my husband the only veggies he'd eat were onions, hot peppers and potatoes. He's branched out a little bit in the past ten years, but he's far from easy to please in this area.

As the years have gone by and we've become more interested in gardening, eating locally, eating more veggies and less meat, and living a sustainable lifestyle, I've started getting a box of organic fruits and vegetables from a local CSA. I love getting really fresh foods and I secretly like getting items I would never have considered buying just a few years ago, like leeks. What in the world do you do with a leek?

In last week's produce box I received leeks and yellow peppers, neither of which I've ever cooked with. In my search for recipes using yellow peppers, I came across several soup recipes, including one that also used leeks - score!

The recipe for this Yellow Pepper Soup comes from the Food Network's website~

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 large yellow peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut in large chunks
• 2 large leeks, (white part only), halved lengthwise, sliced crosswise, well rinsed
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 3 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 medium russet potatoes, (about 1 pound) peeled, cut into chunks
• 4 cups water
• 1 tablespoon dry white vermouth
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the peppers, leek, garlic, salt and turmeric, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 10 minutes. 

Tie the parsley, thyme, and bay leaf together with kitchen twine. Add the potato, water, and herb bundle and bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, uncovered, until the potato is very tender, about 20 minutes.

Discard the herb bundle. 

Puree the soup in small batches in a blender (keep the lid cracked to allow steam to escape), or in the pot with an immersion blender, until smooth. Return to the pot and reheat. Stir in the vermouth, and season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Serve warm.

This soup was so easy to make and the smell was heavenly. Best of all, my husband RAVED about it - that's one for the record books folks!