Roasted Red Pepper Soup

We have limited sun and suitable growing land, so I grow herbs and food crops in raised bins. I'm most successful growing mini tomatoes and peppers. In the early Spring we grow romaine and leaf lettuce which we thoroughly enjoy. This year I grew super sweet 100, yellow pear, and yellow cherry tomatoes. I also grew giant marconi, poblano, gypsy, and jalapeno peppers. All of a sudden lots of peppers have ripened to red, like the gypsy peppers above. Aren't the gypsy peppers beautiful? Even the poblano and jalapeno peppers were turning red so I decided to make roasted red pepper soup. Above you see the peppers; strangely my gypsy peppers are the largest when the poblano and giant marconi should be the largest.

I cut all the peppers in half, removed the stems, seeds, and membranes, then placed them skin side up on a parchment lined sheet pan. I placed them in a preheated 400 F oven to roast about 30 minutes till skins start to slightly turn brown and blister. I removed them from the oven and let them cool till I could handle the peppers to peel off the skins. Forgot to take a photo after roasting the peppers.

In a stock pot I sauté one finely chopped yellow onion in a bit of olive oil. Once the onions are soft and translucent, I added two finely chopped cloves of garlic and sautéed for one more minute. I added two cups of water and the roasted, peeled peppers and some grated fresh ginger, fresh chopped oregano, some smoked paprika, and salt and pepper. I had a few mini tomatoes which were ripe, about half a cup, so I sliced them in half and added those along with a tablespoon of tomato paste.

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I chopped a large potato into half inch cubes and added it to the soup. When the potatoes are soft, I let the mixture cool and then pureed the soup till well blended. Once the soup is blended, I put the mixture back into the pot and added 1/2 cup of half and half and adjusted the seasonings as needed. Add a bit of agave nectar is needed to slightly sweeten the taste. The soup was milder, spicy wise, then I expected and so delicious. I get a warm feeling knowing I'm eating homemade soup with so many vitamins fresh from my garden. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.