Irish Pub Pepper Soup
I’ve never liked sweet peppers. Hot peppers, I love. Green bell peppers? They’ve often played a supporting role in many of my favorite dishes (like this one) but they’ve never really been cause for much excitement. But honestly, I’ve never been a fan of the red, orange and yellow varieties.
But this soup is fantastic; the preparation is simple, the flavor complex.
I’m not sure what inspired a sweet-pepper hater like myself to make this soup but I sure hope the rest of Irish cuisine has this same sort of fresh, simple approach with comparable results. I’ll consider this soup one more piece of evidence that Ireland’s reputation for bad food is a total sham…
Irish Pub Pepper Soup
Yield: 4-6 servings
Ingredients:
* 6 Tablespoons butter
* 4 cups chopped red, orange and yellow sweet bell peppers (ended up being about 1 1/4 pounds)
* 1 red onion, chopped
* 1 stalk celery including leaves, chopped (note: steal some leaves from the other stalks if you’re a celery fan like myself)
* 4 cups vegetable broth
* 1/2 cup half-and-half
* 1 Tablespoon corn starch
* 1 Tablespoon water
* salt and pepper to taste
* crème fraiche for garnish (optional)
* chopped celery leaves, for garnish (optional)
Directions:
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft. Add the peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until the peppers have softened.
Add the broth, stir, and simmer for 45-50 minutes. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup. Whisk in the half-and-half.
Combine the cornstarch with the water to make a slurry, making sure there are no lumps. Add the cornstarch slurry to the soup, stirring constantly. Simmer a couple more minutes to thicken.
Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into individual serving bowls and garnish with crème fraiche and celery leaves, if desired.
Adapted from The Irish Pub Cookbook by Margaret M. Johnson
Welcome! I'm Cate and Girl Cooks World is my recipe journal from my culinary trip around the world. 
This soup is gorgeous…and looks delish to a sweet pepper lover like me :)
Reply
Sounds delish! I love these sweet peppers roasted. My middle daughter eats these raw like candy…so I think I will definately be making this soup asap!
Reply
I've cooked this twice now, and it's blown away everyone that has tried it. Great recipe. I included a bit of oregano and marjoram when I added salt and pepper this last time and after simmering for another 10-15 minutes it gave the dish a little added depth with the pepper.
Reply
Evan- I'm always so happy to hear when people have tried and liked the recipes :) Glad it worked out for you.
Thanks for the tip about the oregano and marjoram. I'll confess that I don't know if I've ever used marjoram before, but I'll have to give it a try!
Reply