Thursday 22 May 2014

This Week In My Kitchen :: 8, Sweet and Hot Pepper Soup



This week in my kitchen:
  • sunshine in the pantry...lots of it...and rainbows...(Pollyanna ones)
  • bargain vintage kitchen finds...silver metal hot milk jug and big hundred year old baking bowl, awesome for bread-making...I wonder who owned these precious treasures before me...
  • baked potato and beetroot supper, with pork chop for A and tuna for me
  • sweet and hot, pepper soup
  • reduced for sauce with chicken and rice next day
  • sparkly clean dishes
  • fresh fruit from peachcroft farm sunday morning

Sweet and Hot, Pepper soup

Ingredients:
  • One leek
  • Four ripe sweet peppers (bell pepper/capsicum)
  • Two garlic cloves
  • A couple of small dried or fresh chilli peppers too taste
  • Sea salt and crushed black pepper
  • Tomato paste/puree
  • A little olive oil or alternative for frying
  • Hot water 
Method:
  1. Top and tail the leek. Cut it length-wise and then chop into small chunks. Wash well to remove any soil.
  2. Pour a little oil into a heavy based pan and add the leek. Allow to sweat for a little while.
  3. Meanwhile wash; cut in half and deseed the peppers. Remove the stalk and cut into small pieces. 
  4. Peel and crush the garlic and add to the pan. Cook out for a couple of minutes along with the crushed chilli pepper.
  5. Add the sweet peppers. Stir well. 
  6. Add boiling water and a little tomato paste. Mix. 
  7. Bring up to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and leave to cook until the peppers are soft enough to blend. 
  8. Check the seasoning and adjust if necessary.
  9. Remove from the heat and blend with a hand blender until smooth and creamy in texture. Add a little more hot water if the mixture is too thick. 
This is a lovely velvety textured soup. The two kinds of peppers give a contrasting sweet and hot flavour. I like to serve it with a spoonful of plain yoghurt and fresh herbs. It works very well when reduced further to a sauce, with chicken or fish. Or grilled tofu, squash or butter beans for a vegan alternative. 

nb. A few people asked me last week about my kitchen drainer. I've had it for ages, at least five or six years. I bought it from a company called Lakeland. Unfortunately they no longer make this design, but if I find a similar one anywhere else, I'll let you know where. 

I'm joining heather author of beauty that moves for her 'this week in my kitchen' blog hop...

...why not come for a peek too?

debx

30 comments:

  1. I would love to hang out in your kitchen Debby, it feels like home to me!

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  2. oh my, a pantry with a window? lovely :)

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    1. The pantry is just off the kitchen it doesn't have a door it's like a big walk-in cubby hole...perfect for my stash of dry goods and the fridge. So the light comes from the kitchen windows. Growing up we had a big pantry with a window. I love having that little extra space to keep my stock.

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  3. So much lovely bright sunshine in your kitchen! Love!

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    1. I just love being home when the sun shines...everything feels better...especially when my glass prism is making rainbows!
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  4. Love the baskets. I have been on the lookout for an older wicker basket with a lid to bring with me going to the shops. My kids, naturally, are mortified and are secretly hoping (I'm sure) that I don't find one :) Oh and the food looks yummy too.

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    1. ooh like a Jane Birkin basket...how cool...
      I hope that you find one.
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  5. Besides that everything looks great and your style is really something I would love to look into a bit further, I love love love your dishes! Especially the 'stone' ones!

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    1. Oh thank you, that's kind of you to say. I especially love the stoneware ones too. I’ve recently started collecting big stoneware jugs. They are really useful in the kitchen, or full of flowers or for watering plants, ooh or even to hold utensils or paintbrushes. I love that they’re handmade. I’ve got three jugs now and found the little bowl last weekend. They don’t seem to be valued much at the moment, which is a shame. But it does mean that you pick them up on car boot sales for a bargain couple of pounds.

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  6. You have such a beautiful kitchen, and such an eye for capturing it in photos! And I am now fully envious of your basket collection.
    Erin

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    1. Thank you, everyone is so sweet. I find it very difficult to walk past a basket without buying it...It takes great personal restraint not too. The last one I bought is the handled apple basket on the right handside. I got it in Hereforshire. It’s probably the oldest one I have, almost worn through at the bottom, but I couldn’t resist it. I'm hunting a big laundry/ironing basket at the moment. Not rushing…I love the search and I think I’ve just about got room in the house for one more.
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  7. What a beautiful kitchen! I just love your baskets, and have a serious weakness for glass storage jars. So lovely.

    Thanks so much for sharing!
    Peace,
    Katy

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    1. Thank you Katy. I find it hard to resist baskets. I have lots for my knitting and sewing projects too. Like you I love glass jars storage/kilner jars as well. My collection is a bit of a higgledy, piggledy collection. Sometimes I wish that they were a bit more uniform, but it wouldn't seem like my home then...
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  8. A kitchen filled with vintage treasures, sunshine and rainbows... how perfectly lovely.
    The food all looks so beautiful and tasty too. I am now craving a baked potato with melted butter.

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    1. Thank you. Baked potatoes are real comfort food aren't they? Especially when there's a dip in the barometer. I have to confess in having made them more often than is probably good for us over the last few weeks. But they were so good...
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  9. Hello dear Debby.. So many things about your kitchen that I love besides the food.. smile.. I think your food is always so awesome.. Thanks for the recipe .. This soup junkie will try it out.. grin..
    Take care.. xo

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    1. Hello Faye, it's always lovely to see your face smiling. I hope you enjoy your soup. Thanks for popping by.
      debx

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  10. I would love to be able to visit and see your beautiful kitchen, I love the lighting and the neutral colors with the splashes of colors. So pretty!

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    1. Thanks Karen, you know that I feel exactly the same way. I love when the sun shines and makes little rainbows with the prism. One day I walked through the back door into the kitchen, the sun was shining and it made a camera obscura/pinhole camera, reflecting my reflection/shadow upside down on the pantry wall...!!! It was amazing. It has never happened before or since...It was out of this world.
      dx

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  11. I love your pantry, and your new, old bowl, and the sunlight on those peaches, and that yellow elephant message board. ♥

    Your family is lucky, Debby, all of the food you make looks scrumptious.

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    1. Oh thank you Susan. I could never get rid of that little elephant blackboard, it was a gift from Hannah's grandmother to her when she was a tiny little girl. She played with it all the time. It even still has a message that she wrote in chalk to me on the top corner. I could never rub that message however many she leaves or writes for me.
      debx

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  12. Your pepper soup recipe looks simple and delicious. I'll be making some soon. Thanks!

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    1. Thanks Denise, It's really smooth and comforting.
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  13. Your kitchen looks so inviting and cozy. I'm glad someone else has a big basket collection!

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    1. Thanks Debi. I must stop collecting soon...but I think I still have room for one...or maybe two more...
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  14. Debby everything looks fantastic, food, fruit, photos!
    I love your pantry looks very tidy.
    My sons had a blackboard like your elephant but it was a red hippo!!
    Have a lovely week!

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    1. Thank you Montse. Oh what a coincidence. I love that little elephant!
      Hope you have a great week too.
      debx

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  15. Your kitchen is so inviting! I love your baskets, the view outside of your French doors, your food grinder, your jars...and, of course, your recipes always look so delicious!

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    1. Thanks Emily. I have a bit of a basket obsession that I probably need to curb.
      debx

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