Capsicum and wild rice soup

I know it looks like carrot soup, but trust me, it isn't. I made it with organic orange peppers (capsicum). I have a standard recipe I use for creamy vegetable soups. I first made it in tenth grade (1987 for you math buffs out there!) and I love this recipe, although the circumstances under which I discovered it were, to my young mind, profoundly tragic. In fact, I thought it was the end of the world. I was doomed to a life of misery.

I'd invited two of my closest girlfriends over for a sleepover on a Saturday night and I wanted to make a special supper for them. Mum sat me down with a bunch of cookbooks and magazines to pore through, but the recipes I wanted to use came out of an advertisement for the Canadian Butter Association in Reader's Digest. Each of the recipes: Golden carrot soup, pan fried white fish and caramelised oranges with ice cream, featured, in a central role...you guessed it, butter. I seem to recall my mother scanning over the recipes and proclaiming that, all together they called for a pound of butter. She asked whether I really wanted to make them and I said yes. So I did. My 14 year-old self couldn't have cared less about eating a pound of butter.

I cooked and cooked and chopped and stirred all day Saturday. Ceri and Jennifer were supposed to come over at six pm. At six thirty there were not still there. Nor were they at seven. I finally called Ceri's house. They weren't there. I called Jennifer's house. Jennifer came to the phone and told me in the nasty, cruel manner employed only by 14 year-old girls and certain bitter celebrities, that they had decided that three was too many people to be friends and that they were not interested in being mine any more and so would not be coming over. My little heart was crushed. I cried for days.

The soup was damn good though. Still is.

Although the original recipe called for carrots, I make it with far less butter these days. I may have much more stable 30-year old friends now, but alas, less of a 14-year old's metabolism. I use the same basic recipe for any vegetable cream soup - asparagus, capsicum (bell pepper), fresh garden peas, mushroom, zucchini - the list could go on interminably. I vary the seasonings and spices as well: dried cumin and fresh corriander with the carrot, dill and a bit of fetta with the capsicum... I also occasionally throw in some extra wild rice (as here), or barley or something after the pureeing stage if I want something a little more filling.

Creamy capsicum and wild rice soup

1 tablespoon butter

• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 750 ml chicken stock
• 2 cups water
• 4-5 cups chopped capsicum
• 1/3 cup uncooked white rice
• salt, pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 cup cooked wild rice (optional)

Melt butter in a large (about 4-5 litres) heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook and stir onions and garlic in melted butter until soft and slightly browned. add the remaining ingredients, excpet the fresh parsley and wild rice. Bring to a biol, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 35 minutes, or until vegetables are very tender. Use an immersion blender to puree the contents of the pot. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can do this in a regular blender, but be sure to do it in very small batches and remeber to keep your hand very firmly on the lid. If you fill the blender more than 1/4 full, or forget to press down on the lid, the contents will probably blow the lid off and you will end up with scorching hot pureed vegetable all over yourself and your ceiling.

Once the soup is pureed, add the parsley and briefly pulse the blender (whichever kind you happen to be using) to cop the parsley more finely into the soup, but no not allow it to puree, or it will make your soup an unappetizing muddy green colour. Add the cooked wild rice. Serve with a dollp of cream, sour cream, buttermilk or creme fraiche...or just by itself.

Comments

[Jennifer]

Don't you wish sometimes you could go back and talk to your fourteen year old self? The things I'd let her know!

The soup looks fantastic. This fall I'll give it a whirl with butternut squash. I can already taste it!

[clare eats]

Yum that looks great lyn, I will have to make it, I never thought of making soup with capsicum :)

[clare eats]

oh and :P :P :P :P :P :P to those mean grls, I bet they still suck and aren't nearly as lovely as you!

[Rachael]

Ick. Those girls were so, so, so, 14. Shudder. Pffft on them I say.

On the other hand, kudos to the Canadian Butter Board for an excellent recipe, and thank you for sharing it! I bet is tastes wonderful knowing you are an adult now and will never have to be 14 again. ;-)

[Stephanie]

Ah, yes...I remember those days. Wish I didn't, to be honest...

You weren't allowed to have more than one best friends, you had to be sure to add 'dearly not queerly' if ever the word 'love' was addressed a female friend...and interpersonal relationships needed protective gear.

The soup sounds fantastic. I'm a fan of cream of ____ soups; have you ever tried it with cashews? Amazing...

[AugustusGloop]

Meh, your cooking was too good for them anyway!

ps. I spy your camera lens in the reflection of the spoon! =)

[Lyn]

Thanks guys. It's amazing what little shits we used to be.

AG: good spot. I did that especially for Spicey. He has a fetish about camera reflections in shiny surfaces.

[mireille]

I'd like to get my hands on "Ceri and Jennifer" ... but, as you probably know, both have been married three times (each), have five children between them and live in lower income housing in some woebegone city. Where they do NOT make elegant cream soups. Yummy, btw. xoxo

[mukeshawasthi]

I want to open a restaurant . So I am looking for various reciepes.

[mukeshawasthi]

I want to open a restaurant . So I am looking for various reciepes.