Recipe for red pepper soup with lime
This week, my local supermarket had a sale on red bell peppers so meaty and unblemished that I couldn't pass them by. This soup -- creamy without cream, sweet without sugar -- would make an elegant first course for a dinner party. It would be equally comfortable alongside a grilled cheese sandwich as a stand-in for tomato soup. The lime zest and juice keep it balanced. And I promise this is the real color, no Photoshop involved. If you can't find a red jalapeño in your market, either substitute a smaller (hotter) red chile pepper, or let a green jalapeño sit on the countertop for a week or so, until it turns red and wrinkly.
Red pepper soup with lime
Adapted from The Soup Bible, this recipe serves 6-8.
Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, roughly chopped
3 large or 4 medium red bell peppers, seeded and roughly chopped
1 large garlic clove, peeled and smashed
1 red jalapeño pepper, seeds and membranes removed, roughly chopped
3 Tbsp tomato paste
3-1/2 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)
Zest and juice of 1 lime
Kosher salt and fresh black pepper, to taste
Directions
In a Dutch oven or heavy stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and red bell peppers, stir, and cover. "Sweat" the vegetables, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes until they are just soft. Stir in the garlic, jalapeño and tomato paste, and 2 cups of stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce to simmer, cover, and cook for 10 minutes.
Remove the pot from heat and pureé the soup with an immersion blender; or, let cool slightly and pureé in a food processor or stand blender, then return the soup to the pot. The soup should be super-smooth, with no chunks of pepper or onion.
Return to the heat, pour in the remaining stock, lime zest and juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring all to the boil, and remove from the heat.
Serve hot, or chilled.
We're moving to a new home, and I plan on having my husband's new manager over for dinner. I was thinking about the menu and wishing for an interesting and tasty soup. This fits the bill exactly! Thanks so much for recipe.
I love spicy food and this looks amazing, definitely trying this recipe out..:)
I love the sound of red pepper and lime in a soup, plus this is Phase One, (a plus for me right now!)
PunkRizz, this is really a delicious and somewhat elegant soup. And the color is a wow!
Mary, you can make this spicier by adding more jalapeno, or red pepper flakes.
Kalyn, the lime really keeps the soup from tasting too sweet. And it's a very simple combination of ingredients. Hope you like it.
The color of this soup is just beautiful!
A blog dedicated to all soups - lovely. And this, well this one is a hit for me. I love red pepper soup. Am going to have a nose around the rest of your site for more inspiration.