Easy Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup with Orange

Yesterday was snowy and cold, today...wet and chilly. I'm not sure which is worse, but when my favorite attire is my ratty red fleece bathrobe, and a pair of ancient Uggs, its time for soup. But since I have to work for a living (imagine a food blogger that doesn't hang around home all day writing about her cool life!), long cooked soups are left for days off. Easy Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup with Orange just tastes like you've spent all day cooking it. The tomato and pepper flavors are old friends, but the orange zest and juice lift it out of this world. 

This brightly flavored soup is quick to make, and is one I fall back on when  I need something that is both sophisticated flavor-wise and filling enough to turn a sandwich or a slice of vegetable tart into a top notch meal. It reheats well, so it makes a real bright spot in an otherwise mundane work lunch. 

Now you could make this in early summer with the first peppers and tomatoes, and I have, and it's delicious. This mid-Winter soup is strictly off the shelf, and out of the crisper drawer. I always have small cans of plain organic tomato sauce in the pantry, as well as a few small jars of roasted red peppers.  A drained 12 oz. jar of peppers is perfect. Don't leave out the orange; it really boosts the flavors of both the peppers and the tomato.

Easy Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup with Orange

Easy Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup with Orange

Serves 2

Instructions:

1 cup jarred roasted red pepper, rinsed, seeded and rough chopped
1 cup plain tomato sauce
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1 small leafy celery stalk, chopped small
1 smallish carrot, chopped or sliced thinly
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
zest of 1 orange
juice of 1 orange
1 tsp. sugar or granular erythritol
salt and pepper
Crème fraîche or plain Greek Yogurt as garnish, optional

Instructions:

1. Place everything through the sugar in a medium saucepan, bring to a simmer, cover and let cook until the celery and carrot are tender, about 15 -20 minutes.

2. Puree with either an immersion blender, or carefully puree in a regular blender. Taste for seasoning and add salt and / or pepper as needed.

3. Serve hot, dolloped with creme fraiche or yogurt.