We love autumn and soup season here at Emergent You, especially when we have an abundance of veggies that are good but at the end of their fresh life.
Last week our founder Lori Palmer had a bunch of red bell peppers just starting to wrinkle, and the end of a bunch of celery and a few carrots all needing to be eaten so… This Roasted Red Pepper Bisque was born, and she had an abundance of basil from the herb garden and decided why not whip up a vegan basil pesto to top it all off!
We follow the principles of a Whole Food Plant Based diet as often as possible, and that includes cooking without refined oil.
To prepare the peppers for this soup, just wash, cut into sections and remove seeds, then place on parchment to roast until beginning to blacken. It can be a curious exploration when you first start trying to cook without oil but we encourage you to give it a try! Let us know how it goes in the comments.
Roasted Red Pepper Bisque
Equipment
- High Speed Blender, Food Processor, or Immersion Blender
Ingredients
Soup
- 4 Whole Red Peppers, medium (or a mix of red and orange)
Quartered and seeds removed - 1 Whole Onion chopped
- 2 Cloves Garlic minced or pressed
- 2 Whole Carrots chopped
- 2 Stalks Celery chopped
- 1 Whole Tomato, medium
- 3 Sprigs Fresh Thyme Use leaves, discard stems
- 3-4 Cups Oil Free Vegetable Stock
- 1/2 Cup Raw Cashews Soaked for 6 hours at room temperature or 2 hours in hot water
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
Garnish
- Fresh Basil Leaves
- Fresh Vegan Basil Pesto
Instructions
- Wash peppers, quarter and remove seeds. Wash and quarter the tomato.
Place all on parchment and roast at 400 for 15-20 minutes til brown and
tender. Set aside. No need to peel. - Add onion to stock pot, and stir often. You do NOT need to add oil.
Onions will release natural oils when left to do their thing! Trust the
process. - As the onions begin to turn clear and the edges are browning, add the
chopped carrot and celery to the stock pot. If needed for sticking, add
splashes of water or stock at this point. - After the carrots and celery have had 10 minutes to cook and begin to
get tender, add the fresh minced garlic and fresh thyme leaves to the
pot. Stir frequently. - Add stock (reserve 1/2 cup if using Vitamix for cashew cream) and bring
to simmer. Once simmering add the roasted peppers and tomato set aside.
Continue to simmer. - If you have a Vitamix or high speed blender, drain cashews, add to
blender with reserved stock. Blend on slow for a few min to begin to
break down the cashews, then add speed and small amounts of stock or
water to create a cream. Add the soup ingredients from the stock pot
(careful with the heat) to the Vitamix one ladle at a time and blend
until smooth. Add back to the stock pot, simmer and add salt and pepper
to taste. - If you have an immersion blender, add the drained cashew directly to the
stock pot and blend with immersion blender inside the stock pot,
careful with the heat. Continue to blend until smooth and creamy. Add
salt and pepper to taste and simmer. - Serve garnished with fresh basil and Fresh Vegan Basil Pesto . Add a delicious grilled sandwich on the side – WE love Grilled Gluten Free Sourdough with Myokos Vegan Mozz and fresh avocado!
