Recipe: Soup with roasted capsicum and lentils

Yes, yet another soup. But I eat loads of soup in wintertime! And this certainly is a perfect winter dish: smoky and satisfying.

I’m not especially fond of cooked capsicum but prefer it raw, but then again I just l o v e anything that’s been roasted. Capsicum turns incredibly sweet and charismatic when roasted; plain cooked it’s just sweet and dull. Smoked paprika and Peruvian pepper complement the capsicum’s sweet and roasted flavours in a wonderful way. I paired the sweet soup with a goat’s cheese cream, and probably needless to say that the marriage of salty and sweet certainly is a merry one. To boost the soup’s nutritional values, I added some red lentils. Yum!

Roasted capsicum and lentil soup
Serves 4–5

3 red capsicums
1,5 dl red lentils
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
200 gr sour cream
vegetable broth
smoked paprika, Peruvian pepper (crushed)

1. Preheat the oven to 250°C. Deseed the capsicums and cut them into large chunks. Place them on an oven tray and bake them until the skin turns black. Leave the capsicums to cool and “sweat” in a dish covered with e.g. tinfoil, and when they are cool enough, peel the skin off.
2. Sauté the onions and garlic.
3. Add the lentils and vegetable broth and cook until the lentils are (over) done.
4. Add the capsicums and leave to simmer for a while.
5. Purée the soup with a hand blender or like until it is as smooth as it gets, and then pass it through a sieve to achieve the most lean and silky consistency ever. It really is worth the effort.
6. Add the sour cream and spices, buzz it once more with the blender to get it all smooth and fluffy. Serve with goat’s cheese cream (soft goat’s cheese, yoghurt, water) or crumbled goat’s cheese.

Bliss!