I saw a recipe for pepper soup and I thought it was a great idea. But I can’t remember where I’ve seen it, if it was in a magazine, a blog or one of my cookbooks. I wasn’t able to go back and read the recipe again, so I made it with what I had available at home. A few years ago I made roasted peppers and this is now a staple in our home. By staple I mean that we have roasted peppers a few times a year, but that is often for us.

For the pepper soup I used fresh peppers, but frozen carrots and green beans, because I already had them in the freezer. You can use fresh veggies if you like, it will be delicious either way.

Ingredients for 6 servings of Pepper soup:

– 8 peppers (4 green and 4 red)
– 150g frozen carrots
– 150g frozen green beans
– 75g tomato paste
– 1 stock cube
– 2 cloves garlic
– 1 spoon oil
– 1 tsp paprika
– 1 tsp smoked paprika
– 1/2 tsp sea salt
– 1/2 tsp tarragon
– 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
– 1/2 tsp marjoram
– 1 tsp dried parsley
– fresh parsley

Start by washing and slicing the peppers. Put them on a baking tray in the preheated oven at 200C or 180C fan for 40 minutes. Put the frozen veggies in a bowl and pour boiling water on them They will defrost quickly and you can chop them in small pieces. Wash, peel and chop the garlic.

In a big pan, pour the oil and heat it over medium heat. Add the garlic and stir. Leave it for a few minutes to cook, stirring from time to time. When the garlic starts to cook, toss in the carrots and the green beans and stir. Leave to cook for a minute or two. Tip the roasted peppers on top and stir. Add the stock cube and water. Stir and bring to boil. Add the tomato paste and all dried spices and stir. Leave to boil for 10 to 15 minutes.
Taste and add more spices, if you wish to.

Wash and chop fresh parsley. Pour the soup in the bowls and garnish with the fresh herb.

I am delighted with the Pepper Soup and I will make it again. The taste of the peppers is really nice and the addition of the paprika and smoked paprika makes it even more delicious. When I’ll buy pepper paste, similar to tomato paste, but made out of peppers, I will make it again.