Sweet Pepper Bisque

Remember how I was griping about all of those yummy bell peppers our CSA was sending us each week?  We had so many of them that I had sauteed them, grilled them, stuffed them - I'd run out of things to do with them!

I was comparing notes with my friend Jess who is also a member of the same CSA.  She didn't know what to do with all of the yummy sweet peppers she had either.  So she came up with a sweet pepper soup recipe that I adapted.  Jess just started getting into cooking and it was so fun to have a conversation with her about how she is enjoying trying new recipes and getting her creative on with them.  If she's half the cook that she is political operative, then I want to be invited to her house for dinner soon.

Jess is a vegetarian so she used vegetable broth in her recipe.  I used chicken broth because it was what I had on hand and apparently Nerdy-Boy and I have no conscious when it comes to eating God's little creatures. Hey I'm from Kansas - that's what we do.  I'm not sure but, I think you can be arrested if you don't eat meat.  I added some ginger - well, just because I could.  I had originally intended to add a little cream to truly make this a bisque, but found that it was so creamy on it's own that I didn't need to do so.  And really - do we need the extra calories hanging out here at Chez Patton-Isenhour?  Four out of five friends surveyed say no.

I won't be waiting until next summer for my CSA to deliver more of those yummy peppers to make this sweetness again.  At some point in the coming months I'm going to break my vow to only buy locally-grown produce.  Yep, I'll be heading to my over-sized and over-priced super-market to buy yellow peppers shipped from some corporate farm in California just to taste the lovliness of this bisque sooner rather than later.

Thanks, Jess for sharing!


Sweet Pepper Bisque
1/4 c olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
4 large bell peppers - seeded and diced (I used 16 of the small yummy peppers from my CSA)
1 medium potato - diced, peeled if you want - I never do - lots of nutrients in that peel
2 Tbsps minced ginger (I used the jarred)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)

Heat oil in dutch oven.  Add onions and salt.  Sautee for 3-4 minutes until soft.  Add peppers, potato, ginger, red pepper flakes and ground black pepper. Cover and simmer until peppers are tender - about 20 minutes.  Add 1/2 cup broth and and cover and simmer for another 40 minutes.  Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of broth.  Puree in food processor or wtih immersion blender.

There are so many things that you can top this with - parsley, dill, rosemary, scallions, sour cream, creme fraiche.  I happened to have some leftover French bread from the night before so I made garlic croutons and topped it with those.  Just enough garlic but not too much to overpower the ginger.

Since Friday is the first day of October and that means lots of tarty-cruncy apples and apple cider, you'll want to check back for yummy apple pancakes and apple syrup for your weekend breakfast.  They're both really easy!