Roasted Tomato, Red Pepper, and Chard Soup

I am very proud of this soup. Less so of my photos.

I have a chard problem. I considered it the archetype of disgusting vegetation as a child, and despite my later conversion to the Church of the Bitter Greens, I still find myself occasionally at a loss for what to do with it. When it's young, I just pop it into the salad along with everything else, but when it's older, it commands the attention and should probably be cooked. Mostly I saute it with sausages, but that takes meat, and I don't have enough meat to keep up with the sheer volume of chard that my garden is producing.

Hence, this soup. This soup will change your life. (Perhaps not as thoroughly as the Life-Changing Cabbage Soup, but I still give it a 73% chance of life-changing). It's incredible: the sweetness of the grilled peppers, the startling savoriness of the grilled tomatoes, are given this beautiful, flavorful depth by the bitterness of the chard. I'm eating a bowl of it right now.

The first time I made this soup, it was entirely with garden produce. The peppers are ending now, so I had to supplement them with store-bought ones, but it's a great end-of-summer dish, especially since the grilling adds extra flavor. It's good cold or hot, and like most soups, is even better the next day. 

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch chard
• 2-3 red peppers
• A lot of tomatoes (look, how much will depend on what size your tomatoes are - let's say enough tomatoes to give you about 3 cups worth?)
• One onion
• Handful of basil
• 1 quart chicken stock

Directions

Rinse your tomatoes and peppers and grill them on high heat. The peppers will turn black. Don't worry, that's exactly what's supposed to happen. Turn them so they're blackened on all sidesSome of the tomatoes will burst their skins. If that happens, go ahead and scoop it up - grill it any further and it might disintegrate. 

They should look about like this

Gather up your grilled vegetables and let them cool on a baking sheet. You'll want to use all the delicious juices they're giving off, so be sure to use something with sides.

Chop your onion and put it in a soup pot. Saute it in olive oil until it starts to soften. 

Wash your chard well, chop it finely, and add it to the onion. Saute it until the stems are soft and the greens are limp.

Finely chopped chard

Once your grilled tomatoes and peppers are cool, slip their skins off. This is most important - and easiest - for the peppers. If the tomato skins aren't already falling off, don't worry about them. But do take off the skins, the stems, and the seeds, from the red peppers. 

Put all your grilled vegetables into the soup pot. Rinse the juices from the pan into the soup pot. Add a quart of chicken stock. Or whatever stock you've got on hand. You do have stock on hand, right? I mean, you can get by without it, but your next project should really be stocking up on stock.

Simmer simmer simmer simmer.

Add caption

Once everything is looking well simmered (20 mins - 1 hour, soup is flexible) pull it off the stove and let it cool.

Once it is cool enough not to break your blender, pour it in the blender and puree it.

That's it! Enjoy!