Now that I’ve made this soup three times, I feel like I can share the recipe. It’s dinner table tested and the peppers are so plentiful and tasty right now, it’s a great time to try this. A work friend of mine gave me a recipe for pepper soup that called for cream and corn. When she made it she left out the cream. I left out the cream and the corn and basically reduced it down to the basic pureed pureed veggie soup with peppers and leeks, based on the classic Potato Leek recipe. The experimentation mostly involved how to calibrate straining out the skins. A fine mesh strainer made it too cumbersome and strained out too much pulp. A regular colander worked fine.

My family really likes this new addition to our soup repertoire. It’s a novel taste and in the cold drear of mid-winter, it’s packed with vitamin C and antioxidants, thus helping boost our beleagured immune systems. All three of us commute by bus, so any defensive powers bestowed by soup are welcome.

Pepper Leek Soup

Serve with croutons, a toasted baguette round, or a gluten free parmesan/quinoa toast (pictured). These snack squares are available at my Costco, and hopefully at yours. We love them.

• 3 leeks, trimmed
• 32-oz box of chicken or veggie stock, or 4 cups home made stock
• 3 cups / 3 medium red peppers, orange and red, cut into strips and halved
• 1 tablespoon Marsala wine
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• seasoning, as desired: salt, white pepper

Using the central, mostly white part of the leek, slice each stalk lengthwise and wash carefully to remove any grit and dirt. Slice cleaned leeks into ¼ – ½ inch slices. In medium sized saucepan, preferably one with a heavy bottom, heat the olive oil. When oil starts to shimmer, add the leeks and stir cook for 30 seconds. Add Marsala and stir briefly, another 20-30 seconds. Add peppers and enough stock to cover, there may be some stock left over.

Bring stock up to boil then reduce heat to medium. Cook until peppers are tender and, about 25 minutes.

Take soup off heat and, using a stick blender, blend the ingredients until there are no chunks of pepper or leek. Season with pepper and a little salt. Let the soup cool and pour through a colander into a storage container to strain out the tougher bits of skin. Reheat and serve, or refrigerate in the storage container and reheat/serve the next day.