Peppers are native to Mexico, Central America and northern South America. Pepper seeds were later carried to Spain in 1493 and from there spread to other European, African and Asian countries. Today, China is the world’s largest pepper producer, followed by Mexico.
Here is a tasty pepper soup to warm you on a cold day.
What you need:
* 25 g butter
* 4 red or yellow peppers, chopped
* 1 onion, chopped
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 750 ml chicken stock
* 100 ml double cream
* Fresh thyme
* salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
What you do:
Sautéed the peppers, onion and garlic in butter, then simmer in chicken stock for about ten minutes.
Have it all in a blender and mix well. Pour it back in the pot and drizzled with cream to create this smooth and delicious puréed soup.
Tip: To avoid a bitter tasting soup, remove the skin from the peppers.
How to remove skin from pepper:
To skin peppers, blister the skin under a hot grill.
Slice the top off the pepper. Remove the seeds and white ribs from inside the pepper. Cut the pepper in half lengthways and in half again.
Place the pepper quarters onto a grill, skin-side up.
Grill the pepper quarters until the skin is blistered and blackened, then transfer to a resealable plastic bag. Set aside for 10 minutes, or until the skin has loosened from the pepper flesh.
Once the pepper quarters are cool enough to handle, peel off the skins and discard.
