Soup of the Week – Stuffed Pepper Soup and Time Travel

Sometimes good food does more than fill your belly.

Every now and then food has the power to actually transport you back in time. And that’s exactly what happened when I tasted this stuffed pepper soup.

First of all, it’s just flat-out delicious. If you like stuffed peppers, you will love this soup. And if you don’t like stuffed peppers? Well, you just might end up a convert. My Husband won’t even look at a pepper – stuffed or otherwise – and he thoroughly enjoyed this hearty soup. Twice.

To be completely honest, I don’t exactly love stuffed peppers, either.

Well, I do love the insides…the stuff part, if you will. What’s not to love when you have a hearty mix of ground beef, tomato sauce, and rice all getting friendly in your bowl? As for the pepper part, well, I enjoy the flavor the sweet peppers provide, but I do not enjoy their texture. Hot wilty vegetables are just not my thing.

My Grandmother’s Aunt B. made some pretty terrific food. I have made serious (and I think successful) efforts to duplicate her halupki and halushki. She also made a wicked good gnocchi. Another of her specialties was stuffed peppers. When she made anything, Aunt B. would make enough to feed an army or two and freeze it. Whichever relative happened to visit her soon thereafter would be sent home with armloads of the frozen goodies to distribute to the rest of the family.

Aunt B. grew up in the Depression era and was an expert saver. One of the things she saved often was the little Styrofoam trays that came underneath produce. She would carefully wash and dry them and then use them with some kind of awesome 1970s freezer plastic to put whatever she made to sleep until someone came to visit.

The goods generally ended up in my Grandmother’s freezer for distribution because at  some point, everyone ended up in my Grandmothers kitchen. We’d all show up there anyway, but if there was food from Aunt B.’s kitchen, it made the trip even more worthwhile.

I can remember many a winter evening around my Grandmother’s table with cousins, aunts, and uncles enjoying something Aunt B. had sent for dinner. I always had a love/hate thing with stuffed pepper night…I loved the insides, but just could not choke down the soft peppers. I had two teenage uncles who would help in that department, though, so I had a good thing going.

This soup gets it just right for me flavor-wise – it tastes exactly like Aunt B.’s stuffed peppers, but all that sweet pepper goodness comes from tossing the diced peppers right into it. The Hub said it’s a good day when the peppers are so incorporated that he doesn’t think to be bothered by them. Or something to that effect.

Serve this over rice for a hearty meal that tastes just like the real thing. And don’t forget to bring a piece of good bread along for the ride to soak up every last drop of it.

Childhood memories included free of charge.

This Stuffed Pepper Soup comes to us from Jaclyn at Cooking Classy. Believe it or not, I did not change one single thing. This soup is perfect as-is. I had diced peppers from our CSA frozen and ready to go, which gave us a nice fresh taste of summer in December. Other than the beef, I didn’t have to shop for ingredients – everything you need is pretty standard pantry fare, which I love!  Click over to Cooking Classy and grab the recipe.