My mother-in-law’s visit was super brief! I thought we were going to spend the entire day together.  It turned out, we only spent lunch and dinner together eating out.  During the in-between time, she jetted off to sightsee with her fiancé.  On the way to the city, they saw traffic on the Bay Bridge.  The traffic in the city was so bad that they couldn’t make it to the Golden Gate Bridge so they turned back around.  Bummer!

We had Japanese food for lunch and Korean food for dinner.  The Korean restaurant we went to was a huge disappointment, even though Yelp says otherwise.  I hate trying new restaurants hoping the food would be good but ending up tasting bad.  I was relieved to be back at home cooking again.  This soup hits all the right spots –comforting and soothing.  Happy Thursday!

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Ingredients:

• 2 large red bell peppers
• olive oil for cooking
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 small carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme leaves, chopped
• 1/2 cup of white wine (I used a Chardonnay)
• 1 (32 ounce) can/box of chicken broth
• 1 starchy potato, peeled and cut into 1/2″ cubes
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• salt and pepper to season
• sour cream for dolloping
• garlic croutons for garnish
• fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped for garnish

Preparation:

Arrange bell peppers on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil and place it under the broiler.  Roast the bell peppers and turn them occasionally with tongs until charred, about 15-20 minutes.  Transfer to a large bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap.  Let the peppers cool for 15-20 minutes before handling them.  Using your fingers, rub or peel the skin off the peppers and discard.  Cut the stem and seeds from the peppers and discard.  Chop or dice peppers and set aside.

In a large Dutch oven over medium heat add olive oil, chopped onions, carrots, garlic and thyme.  Cook until onions are translucent, about 5-7 minutes.  Add wine, chicken broth, potato, sugar and bell peppers.  Bring the soup pot to a boil and reduce to heat to low.  Simmer for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender.  Remove the pot from the heat.  Using an immersion blender, purée the soup until smooth.  Season the soup with salt and pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls. Dollop a tablespoon of sour cream in the center of each bowl and top with croutons.  Sprinkle chopped parsley over top and serve.

Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis