For Uncle Al

He asked for my Carrot and Roasted Red Pepper Soup recipe, and so here it is:

(You can see my original Dilled Carrot Soup recipe here, although I haven't been adding potatoes lately.)

1. Peel and chop about a pound of carrots. Boil them in enough water to cover them, until the carrots are soft.
2. While the carrots are boiling, cut up two red bell peppers and put them in a foil-covered broiler pan. Drizzle oil on them and broil them, turning them over periodically, for a few minutes (until the skin is blistering).
3. When the carrots are done boiling, shut off the stove but leave them in the water. Add the peppers and (if there isn't enough liquid) maybe add a cup or two of chicken stock. Blend them until smooth (I prefer an immersion blender for this part.)
4. Let that puree simmer and make a thick white sauce: 2 tbsp margarine or butter, 2 tbsp flour and 1c milk. Melt the butter in a saucepan and mix in the flour until they become a smooth paste. Over low heat, add a bit of milk at a time, mixing until smooth again. After all the milk's added, bring it to a boil until it's thickened. You can use cream, or possibly plain yogurt (some use condensed milk, but I'm kind of iffy on how that tastes), instead of this white sauce.
5. Stir the white sauce/cream into the vegetable puree. Add several dashes of salt and pepper, a teaspoon of garlic, a dash of cayenne pepper and several dashes of chipotle pepper. I also like a bit of curry powder in there. Cover the soup and let it simmer for at least half an hour, so that the flavours can blend.

Huzzah! Bright orange soup!