Roasted Yellow Pepper Soup and Roasted Tomato Soup With Hot Pepper Cream

This is a delicious soup, especially for fall! actually, actually, it's two soups, mixed into one. sweet and roasted, with a bit of sweet heat to kick it up a notch.

Makes about 3 cups of each soup, serving 6

Yellow pepper soup:
* 3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
* 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
* 1 tablespoon margarine (I use earth balance)
* 6 yellow bell peppers, roasted and chopped coarse (about 6 cups)
* 1 1/2 cups vegan bouillon plus additional to thin the soup as needed (I use Rapunzel with sea salt)
* 1/4 cup soy milk (or rice, or almond, etc)
* Fresh lemon juice to taste


Tomato soup:
* 3 pounds tomatoes, quartered
* 3 unpeeled large garlic cloves
* 3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
* 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
* 1 tablespoon margarine
* 1 1/2 cups vegan bouillon plus additional to thin the soup as needed (I use Rapunzel with sea salt)
* 1/4 cup soy milk (or rice, or almond, etc)
* Fresh lemon juice to taste


Hot Pepper cream:
* 3 fresh hot cherry peppers, blackened over an open flame and chopped fine (wear rubber gloves)
* 1 large garlic clove, minced and mashed to a paste
* 1/2 cup vegan sour cream

Yellow Pepper soup:
Char the peppers over an open flame or broil them in an oven to roast. In a large saucier, cook the shallot, the thyme, and salt and pepper to taste in the butter over moderately low heat, stirring, until the shallot is soft and translucent. Add the bell peppers and 1 1/2 cups of the broth, and simmer the mixture, covered, until the peppers are very soft (about 15 minutes). In a blender, purée the soup in batches until it is very smooth. Pour back into the pan and whisk in the soy milk, additional broth until it’s a consistency you like, the lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.

Tomato soup:
Spread the tomatoes, skin side down, in one layer in 2 foil-lined jelly-roll pans, add the garlic to 1 of the pans, and bake the tomatoes and the garlic in a preheated 350°F. oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the tomatoes are very soft and their skin is dark brown. Let the tomatoes and the garlic cool in the pans on racks. In a heavy saucepan cook the shallot, the oregano, salt and pepper to taste in the butter over moderately low heat, stirring, until the shallot is soft, add the tomatoes, the garlic (skins discarded), and 1 1/2 cups of the broth, and simmer the mixture, covered, for 15 minutes. In a blender purée the soup in batches until it is very smooth, forcing it as it is puréed through a fine sieve set over the pan, cleaned, and whisk in the cream, the additional broth if necessary (both soups should have the same consistency), the lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. The soup may be made 1 day in advance, kept covered and chilled, and reheated.

Pepper “cream”:
Blend together the chilies, the garlic, and soy sour cream until smooth.

To serve the soup:
Take ½ cup of each soup and pour them simultaneously into a shallow soup bowl from opposite sides of the bowl. Drizzle about ½ Tbs of the “sour cream” mixture on the top