Garden Soup

I eat a version of tomato soup nearly every week of the summer. In early summer, it’s gazpacho. But I’m writing this in October 2020 and the soup was a spicy red, orange, green, yellow pepper, cherry, Roma, heirloom tomato, onion, soup with a can of refried beans added to thicken. This Recipe was inspired by my dad, who is now known as Pop-Pop. I’m very grateful that he encouraged me to cook by tasting and looking; not so much by following a recipe. I also think he would really like this—Because adding the can of refried beans allows the soup to instantly thicken. Many of my soups cook several hours. This one can be served in about an hour.

Allow two yellow onions, 3 pounds of whatever tomato is handy (canned whole or puréed would work —if using canned—add after blending the onions and peppers) and 4 fists of variety peppers to simmer with two tablespoons olive ( any neutral oil would work) oil in a large pan. Cast iron is nice as you will add iron to your food. When your onions and peppers soften, toss in your Vitamix and blend. Return to pot. Add a little vinegar or some of last night’s red wine to season.

Here’s where you could cook down for a couple of hours until the tomatoes reduce. Or you can thicken the recipe with the canned refried beans. Your family will think you’ve been cooking all day.

Depending on how spicy you’ve made this recipe you may need to serve with rice, yogurt, or bread to cool the spicy!