Roasted Red Pepper & Garlic Soup

Here’s a healthy, hearty and cozy bowl of soup to keep you warm this winter. I get a lot of vegan and dairy-free requests so here’s a simple soup recipe that will satisfy your comfort food cravings.

key ingredients

• Roasted Red Peppers: I used 5 red bell peppers for this recipe. You can always roast more and marinate them in extra virgin olive oil. Roasted red peppers are delicious on sandwiches, salads and pizza. Try swapping out the tomatoes for roasted red peppers for your burrata or caprese salad next time. It hits differently.
• Roasted Garlic: I roasted 3 heads of garlic along with the red bell peppers in the same baking pan.
• Sun Dried Tomatoes: I used sun dried tomatoes that are jarred in olive oil.
• Celery Seeds: Celery seed is a spice that comes from the seeds of wild celery. This spice is the perfect compliment to tomatoes. It’s used in brines, dressings, sauces (barbecue sauce) and Bloody Mary’s. A pinch of this in your soup will do wonders so if possible, don’t skip this ingredient! If you can’t find celery seeds, you can substitute with celery salt. I find that the latter is more easy to find at grocery stores.
• Vegetable Stock: I used vegetable stock for this recipe. You can substitute with chicken or beef stock as well.
• Yellow Onion
• Shallots

key steps

In full transparency, I messed up on some of the steps in my recipe video so please follow the instructions in the recipe card instead. For example, I forgot to sauté the celery seeds with the aromatics and instead, added the celery seeds along with the vegetable stock. Also, there’s no need to season the red peppers prior to roasting because I decided to peel off the skins to get a sweeter and smoother soup. Sometimes I improvise as I shoot my recipe videos so apologies in advance!

1. Roast the Red Peppers + Garlic: Cut the bell peppers into quarter pieces (as shown in video). Place them on a baking sheet with skin side up. Place the garlic in foil (as shown in video below). Drizzle the tops of the garlic with olive oil and season with salt. Wrap the garlic in foil and transfer to the baking pan with red peppers. Roast the red peppers and garlic for about 45 minutes at 400°F.
2. Peel the Skins: Immediately transfer the roasted red peppers into an airtight container. Lets the peppers steam in the container for about 20 minutes. Steam created inside the container will help make it easier to peel the skins off the peppers. Once the peppers have cooled down, peel the skins off the peppers. You may be tempted to run them under water. No matter what please do not run the peppers under water! 
3. Sauté Aromatics: In a pot, sauté the onions, shallots and celery seed until the onions become slightly caramelized. Then add the garlic, sun dried tomatoes, red peppers and vegetable stock. Simmer the soup for 20 minutes.
4. Purée: Transfer the soup to a blender. Purée the soup until you get a fine consistency. Make sure to cool the soup a bit before blending. When transferring the soup to a blender and add the lemon juice, make sure the soup is either cooled or lift the fill cap of the lid slightly to let the steam escape from the jar. If you have an immersion blender, you can blend the soup directly in the pot. Adjust the seasoning with fine sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
5. Garnish: I garnished my soup with fresh oregano leaves and a drizzle of heavy cream. If you want to keep it vegan, drizzle a little bit of extra virgin olive oil or pesto.

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