If it seems like I've been roasting a lot of things lately, it's because I have! This week, it's red bell peppers. I love red bells in stir fry or stuffed and grilled, but I'll share those recipes a little later. Right now, we're roasting roasting roasting!

Yesterday, I had a dozen or so red bell peppers that were a little worse for wear. Some had soft spots where they'd been bumped or dropped and others were intent on becoming science experiments. Looking them over, it was clear to me that they had to be processed immediately. If I waited another day, I might lose the whole lot. Roasting peppers is a great way to handle not only the volume of produce, but also to put them into a ready-to-use form that can be stored for up to 2 weeks in the fridge or 6 months in the freezer. First, I'll share my roasting methods and then we'll dig into a super simple and delicious late summer soup recipe.

How to Roast Peppers

1. 
   
2. Preheat oven to 400°F and drizzle a couple of tablespoons of good olive oil on a baking sheet. (You can use parchment paper if you want, but you'll still need the oil!)
   
3. Wash, halve, seed and de-stem your peppers. If they have gnarly spots, just cut 'em off!
   
4. Place peppers, cut sides up, on the baking sheet and wiggle them around to coat the bottoms in oil. (My dozen peppers fit snugly on 1 large Sautébaking sheet. If you're roasting more, use two sheets or work in batches.)
   
5. Flip the peppers over (cut side down now) and add salt and pepper.
   
6. Roast in the oven for 1 hour. Peppers will look deflated and have some black char marks. This is a good thing.
   
7. Remove from oven, and transfer the peppers (using tongs or another implement of safety) to a glass bowl or dish (a lasagna pan would be a good choice). Cover with foil and allow to rest on the counter until the peppers have cooled to nearly room temperature.
   
8. When the peppers are cool enough to handle, pick through them and remove the skins. It's A-OK to leave some of the black charred-ness with the flesh, but you'll want to discard as much skin as possible.
   
9. Your roasted red peppers are ready to be used, or you can freeze them (in a zip-top bag with the air squeezed out). Since I knew I'd be making soup later in the day, I stuffed my peppers into a glass jar (with their liquid) and stored them in the fridge.
   

So, you're ready for soup, are you? Let's go!

Roasted Red Pepper Soup
Yield: 4 appetizer servings or 2 side dish servings

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups vegetable stock (I prefer an organic, low sodium variety)
1/2 Tbsp dried Italian herb blend (or 1/2 tsp each basil, rosemary, oregano, and parsley)
pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp tomato paste
8 roasted red peppers, coarsely chopped

In a medium sauce pan on medium heat, sauté shallot and garlic in olive oil until soft, about 6-7 minutes. Add veg stock, herbs, red pepper flakes and tomato paste and stir to combine. Add roasted red peppers and bring to a steady simmer.

Using an immersion (stick) blender, standard blender or food processor, puree the soup. I use my standard blender and work in batches before transferring soup back to the sauce pan. Blend until the soup is as smooth as you like; there's nothing wrong with texture!

That's it, you're done. Serve immediately! This soup is fantastic with pesto pasta, green veg of all varieties and, of course, grilled cheeze sandwiches.