Red Pepper, Tomato, Carrot Purée Soup

Purée Soup number 2, and certainly not the last. My apologies if you're not a fan. I've been taking them to work for lunch or as an afternoon snack/pick me up. These soups are hard to beat- super simple, quick, and crazy nutritious. Win, win, win. Once again, I'm sure you can vary the vegetable ratios in this recipe, but this is just what I used.

The evening I cooked this soup I made it into a meal by serving it with a grilled sandwich on whole grain bread with havarti cheese, hot coppa salami, and a touch of grainy mustard.

Red Pepper, Tomato, Carrot Purée Soup

5 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 medium bell peppers, chopped
2 cups of chicken stock
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

-In a large soup pot, heat olive oil and sautée the onion until softened. Add the carrots, tomatoes, bell pepper and kosher salt and sautée briefly. Add the chicken stock and whatever water you need to cover the vegetables (the less water the better as the tomatoes will also bring a lot of liquid with them). Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 20-25 minutes until all the vegetables are fork tender.

-Remove soup from heat and purée using a blender, food processor, or stick blender. If using a blender, purée in small batches to avoid a soup explosion. Return the purée to the original pot, reheat slightly, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls, garnish with parsley or a dallop of sour cream and serve.