they call me mellow yellow pepper soup

It just never ends......that's only one of the nice things about food. Buy it, prepare it, eat it. Repeat. I love knowing that I can be full, but I will never be filled up. And so it never ends, the quest for gastronomic delights, the constant search for new tastes and textures to please my palate and my promiscuous culinary escapades. A lazy Saturday morning stroll through our local Farmer's Market turned up a treasure trove of edible delights. Against the backdrop of the town square, gazebo, store fronts and restaurants, on a simple wooden table...yellow bell peppers. They were just sitting there innocently among the sweet corn, heirloom tomatoes and globe onions flirting and winking at me [definitely not just another summer vegetable]. I'm not mad about green peppers [although I must admit they have their place] they are not as sweet and leave a bitter taste in my mouth whereas the sweet red, yellow, orange and purple ones look as if they are dressed up to go to the prom with promises of a good time. Yellow peppers, they have an air of the exotic about them, while the simplicity of those gorgeous, sweet, bell-shaped babies-with their stems artfully twisted shut, makes mother nature herself seem practiced in perfection.

I can't help it, the sight of these made me giddy. The moment I saw them I knew they were destined for great things. Not willing to have these fabulous peppers upstaged by other foods or relegated to a supporting role, I gave them the starring role in our al fresco summer dinner. In between heavenly spoonfuls of velvety smooth yellow pepper soup topped with homemade parmesan croutons and creme fraiche, we nibbled some locally grown bibb lettuce crowned with giant sauteed tiger shrimp. The evening was beautiful. The sky was crisp and blue with clouds as fluffy as whipped cream. Dinner was nothing less than enchanting.

  I decided to feature these peppers in a soup so that their flavor would not be dulled by cooking them too much or overwhelmed by cheese, stuffing, or tomato sauce. A slight kick from the hot pepper flakes aside, this soup tastes just like yellow peppers [duh, so hard to follow], smoothed out to a creamy, velvet-like consistency. A pureed soup is the perfect pedestal for creating flavors so loud you can hear them-that, together with thrill using my immersion blender gives me, is why I love them. But the vibrant color of this soup is addictive in itself. The Parmesan croutons were an afterthought, but as with many soups of a creamy consistency, something crunchy adds an element of surprise and delight.

 Yellow Pepper Soup

(go here for recipe)