Yellow and Red Pepper Soup (Giallo e Rosso Pepe Zuppa)

This rounds out my meatless Monday meal.  You may have seen yesterday's post on a unique sandwich, Layered Mushroom, Marscarpone and Polenta Bake (Polenta Concia)!  The "sandwich" paired perfect with this sweet (Mascarpone Cheese) and Earthy flavors of roasted peppers, all made fresh tasting with the addition of some fresh cut thyme leaves.

I showed off a bit for the photos with some fresh made Italian spiced croutons, but that's optional.

PLUS, this is one of those crock pot meals, easy and time convenient, just set, forget and serve when you want!  There are potatoes in the mix.  I have found that you will get better texture if you set your slow cooker on HIGH and limit this to a 4 hour cook.  Longer and slower makes mushy potatoes.  4 hours in the pot and you have fully cooked yet with a bite potatoes with texture.

 OK... here's what I did...

Yellow and Red Pepper Soup (Giallo e Rosso Pepe Zuppa)

Ingredients

• 2 Medium Red Bell peppers, Fire roasted, blackened skin removed, stems, seeds and white inside membrane removed
• 2 Medium Yellow (or Orange) Bell peppers, Fire roasted, blackened skin removed, stems, seeds and white inside membrane removed
• 1 Medium Red Onion, Sliced into rings
• 2 Medium Russet Potatoes, quartered lengthwise and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
• 4 Cups Chicken Stock
• 2 tsp Fresh Thyme Leaves, plus additional for Garnish
• To Taste Salt and Pepper
• 1 Cup (8 Oz) Mascarpone Cheese

Cooking Directions

1. ADD BUTTER FOR ONIONS
2. OK, first up set your slow cooker on HIGH, add the chicken stock.
3. Fire Roast your peppers. If this is your first time fire roasting peppers, do a quick google search. They are easy, basically stab with a fork and over a stove top burner flame (or under the broiler in an electric oven) heat until; the peppers blister black. Seal in a paper bag until cooled (about 20 minutes), the blackened skin will peal off easily. But again, take a look at a video if you have questions.
4. While the peppers are cooling, add the butter to a large saute pan and melt over medium high heat until just before the butter starts to smoke. Add the sliced onions and saute for about 5 minutes, until they soften and start to lighten in color.
5. While the onions are cooking, slice the potato and add the slices to the slow cooker.
6. Add the sauteed onions to the slow cooker
7. Slice the roasted peppers into 1 inch squares and add to the slow cooker
8. Season with the Thyme leaves, salt and pepper.
9. Close up the lid for 4 hours.
10. After 4 hours, taste and add additional salt and pepper if needed.
11. Add the Mascarpone cheese and stir until melted and combined.
12. Garnish with fresh Thyme leaves
13. Serve HOT and ENJOY!

This is a bright, beautiful soup.  Light in taste with just a hint of the sweet Italian cream cheese (which also helps to thicken the broth for a very pleasing texture.  And of course, LOVE the colors.  Meatless Mondays do not need to be bland Mondays.  This soup packed a lot of flavors.

And of course this deserves a hall of flame (get it, fire roasted peppers) place in my list of "52 Soup Recipes"

And the Authentic Italian recipe is also listed with my "52 Authentic Italian Recipes".

And as always, if you like this recipe and think you might want to give it a try, pin this to your Pinterest Board and be sure to follow me on Pinterest if you want to see the rest of my 52 Ideas!