Vegan Pepper Leek and Onion Soup

Vegan Pepper Leek and Onion Soup. Last week the temperature dropped just enough to make me pull on a sweatshirt and start thinking about soup. Soup is one of my favorite foods to make, especially when it involves roasting vegetables.

This soup is very simple to create but the roasting does require a bit of time. If time is an issue, an easy solution is to roast the vegetables the night before and refrigerate them until you are ready to make your soup. It’s not uncommon for me to roast a lot of vegetables on a Sunday night and use them throughout the week to add delicious flavor to whatever I’m cooking.

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Ingredients

Start to Finish: 1 hour and 15 minutes (including roasting time)

Serves: 6 to 8

1. 2 large yellow bell peppers

2. 3 large leeks

3. 3 celery stalks

4. 1 large white onion

5. 1 large potato

6. 4 cloves garlic

7. 4 cups vegetable stock

8. 1 tsp freshly chopped thyme

9. salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400˚F. 

2. Prep work:

   • Slice peppers in half, lengthwise, remove seeds.

   • Remove ends from leeks and celery, slice in half lengthwise and clean under running water, pat dry.

   • Quarter onion and remove outer layer of skin.

   • Clean and cut potato into large chunks.

   • Peel garlic cloves and place into the center of a piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Wrap up the cloves in the foil to form a package, folding the ends together to seal.

3. Place all vegetables onto a large rimmed baking sheet (peppers placed skin side up) and lightly coat vegetables with olive oil. Set the garlic container onto the baking sheet with the other vegetables.

4. Bake vegetables for 30 to 40 minutes—pausing halfway to flip or turn the leeks, celery and onion with tongs—until the pepper skins blacken and blister.

5. Check the garlic at the 20-25 minute mark—the cloves should be soft when pierced with a fork.

6. Remove all vegetables from the oven. Place peppers in a bowl covered with plastic wrap. Allow peppers to cool and then remove the skins.

7. In a blender, add the roasted peppers, leeks, celery, onion, potato, garlic, vegetable stock and fresh thyme. Blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!