We were just in Quebec celebrating Christmas with my family and one night, we went out to a neat restaurant in my town that served a comforting, delicious roasted red pepper soup. We loved it so much that my guy asked me to recreate it when we got back home.

The soup at the restaurant was sweet and a bit smoky from the roasted peppers and tangy from the tomatoes and had a small amount of cream to give it a luscious texture and…creaminess. This soup comes close to the “original” and would be ideal served with a simple grilled cheese but could also be dressed up with a drizzle of crème fraiche.

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 tsp. each dried thyme and Kosher salt
• ½ tsp. each black pepper and granulated sugar
• 28-ounce can of roasted sweet red peppers, drained (could also roast two large red peppers)
• 28-can of San Marzano tomatoes
• 32-ounces chicken or vegetable broth
• ½ cup light or heavy cream

Directions:

1. Warm the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat then add the onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the thyme, salt, pepper and sugar and cook for an additional minute.
3. Add the red peppers, tomatoes and the broth to the vegetables and cook over medium-low heat for 30 minutes. Cool for about 5 minutes then use an immersion blender to pulse the soup to an almost smooth consistency. You could do this in batches in a blender also. If you like a completely smooth soup, strain the pureed soup through a sieve (I did).
4. Stir in the cream into the soup and warm through, making certain the soup doesn’t boil again.

8 servings.