Red pepper veloute soup

I love the delicate flavour of this soup, and the delicate roux makes it silky smooth. It is a wonderful soup to start any dinner with. I have also made this soup with yellow or orange peppers. The colour changes, but the soup essentially stays the same.

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3-4 red bell peppers, cut into strips or roughly diced

3 tablespoons butter or olive oil

3-4 cups chicken stock, or water

2.5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk

Pinch of ground cayenne pepper, or to taste

4-5 tablespoons cooked long-grain rice.

Heat half the butter/oil, add the peppers, and sauté on medium until soft. Remove a few if you would like to garnish with the sautéed peppers. Add the stock or water and simmer gently for 15 minutes until the peppers are extremely soft. Purée the peppers in a blender or using a hand blender until smooth and silky.

Heat the rest of the butter/oil in a separate pan and add the flour. On medium to low, cook the flour till it turns a light gold and smells nutty (you are making a roux), about 3-4 minutes. Add 1-2 ladles of the hot soup and mix well to form a slurry. Add the slurry to the soup and mix well. It should be smooth, but if it turns lumpy, purée the soup again. Add cayenne. Simmer gently till it thickens a bit, about 5 minutes. Take off the heat, add the cream, and mix well.

To serve, heat soup gently and top with cooked rice. Enjoy.