Red Pepper Soup with Balsamic Reduction
(courtesy of the January/February 2012 Vegetarian Times)

For the Balsamic Reduction:

1 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup agave nectar

For the Soup:

3 tbsp olive oil

1 medium red onion, diced (1 1/2 cups)

1/2 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced (1 cup)

1 medium Yukon Gold Potato, peeled and diced (1/2 cup)

1 large shallot, diced (1/2 cup)

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 clove garlic, minced (1tsp)

6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

2 large red bell peppers, diced (3 cups)

1. To make balsamic reduction, bring vinegar and agave nectar to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 15 minutes until thickened. Cool.

2. For the soup, heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add red onion, sweet potato, yukon gold potato, and shallot, and cook 5-7 mites. Add the cumin, red pepper flakes, and garlic. Saute for 3-5 minutes. Add broth and red peppers. Bring to a simmer. Cook for 30 minutes until the bell peppers and potatoes are softened.

3. Blend the soup in batches until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle each serving with Balsamic Reduction.

Serves 8

Notes:

I personally found my balsamic reduction to be too thick when I cooled it down. You can either not cook it down as long as I did (I did about 10 minutes), or you can just heat up the reduction a bit when you are about to drizzle it over your soup, as this makes it thinner and easier to drizzle!

I also realized as I was starting to make the recipe that I forgot to get a red onion. So I just used a yellow onion, and I liked it. So don’t worry if you have to substitute – it will still taste good!

I also halved the red pepper flakes because I don’t like it too spicy.