Vee’s Roasted Pepper Tomato Soup, Crazy, Insanely Good!

 

 

Pony up to the chow line for some crazy good dutch oven baked bread and some crazy, insanely good roasted pepper tomato soup! From those descriptions I think I must be a crazed cook with some kooky expressions! Well, so be it! It is…crazy and insanely good!

Since being here in Kentucky and starting this blog, I have explored and dabbled in new and regional recipes. I’m not sure where tomato soup would have hailed from…but I say… ‘hail to the soup’! Or was that …oh hell…to the soup? It may have been the latter until recent years! I know this may be cause for a mass of social media blasting and character assassination but I, truth be told, was never a huge fan of the quintessential ‘mmm, mmm good’ tomato soup! A grilled cheese sandwich was essential to go with the quintessential! It was what I would call ‘uncomfortable food’ without the sandwich! Ahh…that expression (mmm, mmm good) that describes the approval of the palate, must have come from another crazed and kooky cook! However, fast forward many years and I stepped into the world of wild abandon and tried, brace for it….a new and improved tomato soup! It was the crazy and insanely good roasted pepper tomato soup at Paradise Bakery Cafe in Phoenix Arizona. Sooooo, sooooo good could now be made into a peppy, memorable little jingle for this brand of soup. I’m not sure that crazy, insanely good will work!

This bowl of quintessential deliciousness from Paradise Bakery & Cafe is now one of those ‘regional’ foods for me because it cannot be found here in Kentucky. There is no Paradise Bakery & Cafe here! Southerners do love tomato pie but much to my dismay…no soup like the afore mentioned! I once asked why it was no longer on the menu. I asked at the wrong place! Panera did not ever make roasted pepper tomato soup! So, if you want to know the why’s and the wherefores of this post (and of course you do), there is none to be found in this city or state (roasted pepper tomato soup or Paradise Bakery& Cafe). Therefore, because of the ‘where for art thou’ situation at hand…I made it at home, on my range and that is why! Okay, that was the wherfore (art thou), therefore and why!

Now, all kookiness of this kooky cook aside, I must tell you about this soup and also about this wonderful rustic bread which was a great new method and recipe found online.

I read through many recipes for the roasted tomato soup to guide and inspire me to my own. It is such a simple recipe to make and the result is simply…crazy, insanely good!!

 

And for the rustic bread…

No need to be fussy and no need for the bread hook…but I’m hooked!

No-Knead Bread

One of the most popular recipes The New York Times ever published, by Jim Lahey…

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This really is a no fuss and easy peasy recipe and method. It is baked in an enamel, cast iron, pyrex or ceramic pot. I used my dutch oven. This pot has become one of my most loved and used pots since my son gave it to me a few years ago for Christmas. Very versatile! The baking process is two part. Lid is placed on the pot for the first 30 minutes, then removed for the remainder of baking time.

For these recipes and more (how fun is that to say?), go to…

https://sites.google.com/site/recipesfromhomeandtherange/home/roasted-pepper-tomato-soup

But, actually, the No-Knead Bread recipe is here:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread

As Mikey always said…’Try it, you’ll like it!’

Until we meet again…

May you find comfort on your journey,

with all of the ‘essential quintessentials’,

be blessed simply and…

simply blessed

~Vee