Recipe ~ Golden Pepper and Yellow Tomato Soup

[Guest guest]

This was last night's dinner and today's lunch. Very tasty soup and really

pretty. We used sweet paprika, as that's what we had instead of the smoked, but

I put a little liquid smoke in it to add the smokiness....Cindi

 

Golden Pepper and Yellow Tomato Soup

Serves 4

 

1 pound yellow or orange tomatoes

1/3 cup white rice

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

3 yellow or orange bell peppers

2 tablespoons olive oil

Pinch saffron threads

1 bay leaf

2 thyme sprigs, leaves plucked from the stems

1 teaspoon sweet paprika or ½ teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 quart Vegetable Stock, or water

Slivered opal basil or chopped marjoram and parsley for garnish

 

Bring 2 quarts water to a boil. Slice an X at the base of each tomato.

Plunge them, 2 at a time, into the water for about 10 seconds, then remove and

set aside. Add the rice and ½ tsp salt to the water, lower the heat to simmer,

and cook until the rice is tender, about 12 minutes. Drain.

 

Chop the onion. Mince the garlic with a pinch of salt until mushy. Dice the

peppers into small squares, removing the seeds and membranes first. You should

have about 2 cups. Peel and seed the tomatoes, reserving the juice, then dice

the walls and mince the cores.

 

Warm the oil in a soup pot and add the onions, peppers, saffron, bay leaf,

thyme, and paprika. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the

onion has begun to soften and color, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic, then stir

in the tomato paste and 1 teaspoon salt. Give it a stir and add ¼ cup water.

Stew for 5 minutes, then add the tomatoes, their juice, and the stock. Bring to

a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes.

 

When ready to serve, reheat the soup with the rice, then ladle it into bowls.

Or make a mound of rice in each bowl and spoon the soup around it. Season with

pepper and garnish with fine slivers of opal basil leaves or marjoram chopped

with a few parsley leaves.

 

From Deborah Madison’s book “Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America’s

Farmers’ Markets”