Chilled Red Pepper Soup With Garlic Parmesan Crisps Recipes

CHILLED ROASTED RED PEPPER SOUP

Steps:

• Quick-roast and peel peppers.Chop onion. Peel potato and cut into 1/4-inch dice. In a 5-quart heavy kettle heat oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and sauté onion, potato, and cumin, stirring, 5 minutes. Add roasted peppers, water, and broth and simmer, covered, 20 minutes, or until vegetables are very tender.
• While soup is cooking, peel and seed tomato.
• Purée soup in batches with tomato in a blender (use caution when blending hot liquids), transferring to a bowl, and season with salt and pepper. Cool soup. Chill soup, covered, at least 4 hours and up to 2 days. Adjust seasoning.
• Serve soup with lime wedges.

CHILLED TOMATO & RED PEPPER SOUP

Steps:

• Cut each pepper half into quarters. Place skin side up on a grill rack and cook until skins have charred. Transfer to a bowl and cover with a plate. (I put them on the barbeque to keep the heat out of the house.).
• Heat the oil in a large pan. Add onion and garlic and cook until soft. Meanwhile, remove the skin from the peppers and roughly chop them. Cut the tomatoes into chunks.
• Add the peppers and tomatoes to pan, then cover and cook gently for 10 minutes. Add wine and cook a further 5 minutes, then add stock and salt and pepper to taste and continue simmering 20 minutes.
• Process the soup in a blender until smooth. (I let it cool a bit first. Easier to handle, and less like to explode!) Pour into a clean glass or ceramic bowl and leave to cool completely before chilling for at least 3 hours. When soup is cold, season to taste. Serve in bowls topped with croutons, if you wish, and garnished with snipped chives.

CHILLED RED PEPPER SOUP WITH BASIL AND CROUTONS

Steps:

• Char peppers over gas flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides. Wrap in paper bag and let stand 10 minutes. Peel and seed. Cut into 1/2-inch pieces.
• Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until brown on edges, about 6 minutes. Add bell peppers and 3 cups stock. Simmer until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer peppers and onion to processor; puree. With machine running, add stock from saucepan and blend until smooth. Mix in dried red pepper. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and chill until cold. (Can be made 1 day ahead.)
• Heat 2 tablespoons oil in medium skillet over medium heat. Add bread; stir until brown. Whisk cold soup to blend; thin with more stock if necessary. Spoon into bowls. Top with bread and basil.

CHILLED RED PEPPER-TOMATO SOUP

Steps:

• Preheat broiler. Holding bell pepper at stem, cut into 3 flat pieces. Discard stem end, core and seeds. Repeat with remaining pepper. Place pieces skin side up on broilerproof pan. Broil bell peppers until skin is charred and blackened, about 8 minutes. Transfer bell peppers to plastic bag. Twist bag to seal and let stand until peppers are cool. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead; chill.)
• Peel peppers and cut into thirds. Combine with tomato juice and garlic in blender. Puree until smooth. Stir in green onions and basil. Season generously with pepper. Refrigerate overnight.
• Garnish with yogurt and serve.