Roasted Red Pepper Soup

T: "What am I going to say about our soup?"
J: "It was orange. It was orange, and it was awesome."

Y'all would think that we haven't been eating, or we haven't been cooking, for the amount I've been blogging about it lately. Not so--but by the time we've cooked and eaten, there's no time to talk about it--it's been back to work, or alternately, time for a quick bout of the train game. But I've been meaning to write about roasted red pepper soup for a while, so tonight is the night.

The first time I made it I looked at several recipes online, and decided not to follow any of them. Here's what I did tonight:

3 red peppers, roasted under the broiler & skins removed (obviously)
2 medium-sized potatoes
3 skinny carrots
1 largeish onion
2 cups vegetable stock (from bouillon, alas)
about 1 cup water
a little salt
a little black pepper

I sauteed the onions in a combo of olive oil and butter, added the carrots, peppers, and potatoes briefly, and then the stock & water, and let it simmer for--hmmm, maybe half an hour or 45 minutes? Then I pressed the whooshy thing into service and pureed the whole thing. Jenny chopped some fresh cilantro for garnish.

It wasn't the best roasted red pepper I've made--I think the last time was better. Here's what I'd have changed this time:

1. During the onion phase, I meant to put a few hot red pepper flakes in, but I was a little tipsy, thanks to a delicious Stone IPA on a mostly empty stomach (thanks to Rob for turning us on to that!).

2. Ditto some dried oregano--just a pinch. I think a tiny bit of dried basil would have been nice, too.

3. An extra red pepper would have boosted the flavor--or, alternately, fresh local peppers would have been tastier (I used Fresh Direct peppers that weren't as ripe as the ones I'd been getting at the Grand Army Plaza farmers' market).

Still, it was delicious, even if it wasn't life-changing the way our dinner Monday night was. After nearly a year, we returned to our favorite Indian restaurant in Brooklyn: Joy. And it was indeed joyful. We had our usual Joy haul: chicken tikka masala, chana masala, a side order of aloo gobi, vegetarian samosas, poppadums, garlic naan, and rice. But seriously: this isn't some little Brooklyn restaurant where we eat when we don't feel like going into Manhattan. If this says anything, I even prefer it to Madhur Jaffrey's restaurant Dawat, although the tandoori oven there is all it's cracked up to be. Now, we haven't explored Jackson Heights, so I can't compare Joy with the best of Queens, but J & I both were doing the happy food dance the other night.