Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Balsamic Reduction

Only one more Soup Wednesday after this and then the theme will change! Although soup is my favorite Wednesday theme that I run, I'm happy for a change of pace.

Other Soup Wednesday Posts: Roasted Wild Mushroom Chowder; Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup with Maple Roasted Chickpeas; Onion Soup with Fontina and Thyme; Chunky Root Vegetable Soup with Swiss Cheese Croutons; Slow Cooker Cauliflower Soup; Vegetarian Posole; Creamy Tuscan White Bean and Garlic Soup with Rosemary; Red Curry Vegetable Soup; Tuscan Tomato and White Bean Soup; Heartbeet Soup. 

Adapted from Vegetarian Times.

Ingredients:

Balsamic Reduction

-1 cup balsamic vinegar

-¼ cup honey

Soup

-3 tablespoons olive oil

-½ medium sweet potato, peeled and diced (1 cup)

-1 medium Yukon gold potato, peeled and diced (½ cup)

-1 large onion, diced (½ cup)

-1 tsp. ground cumin

-¼ tsp. red pepper flakes

-1 clove garlic, minced

-6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

-2 large red bell peppers, roasted and diced


To make the balsamic reduction: Bring vinegar and honey to a boil in small saucepan. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer until thickened. Cool.

Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, sweet potato and Yukon gold potato, cook 5 to 7 minutes.

Add cumin, red pepper flakes, and garlic. Sauté 3 to 5 minutes.

Add broth and bell peppers; bring to a simmer. Cook 30 minutes, or until bell peppers and potatoes are softened.

Use an immersion blender to blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

 Drizzle each serving with balsamic reduction.

While we thought this was good, Dave and I both thought that it was pretty spicy. Both of us enjoy spice, but I needed to eat it in small quantities, more as an appetizer portion than a meal. The color was nice and it had good flavor. I didn't reduce my balsamic reduction enough, so it was too thin to float on top of the soup and sank to the bottom.