VEG****Paprika & Red Pepper Soup with Pistachios or Almonds

By Unblond1

This is very good as a lunch for work, I've only had it cold. I made it the first time with pistachios but since I don't like to keep those on hand because of Dan's allergy, I made it the second time with roasted salted almonds - not much difference, really.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 large red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, stemmed, seeded and diced
• 1/2 fresh Thai chile and 1 medium jalapeno, stemmed and coarsely chopped
• 2 teaspoons sweet Hungarian paprika
• 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 cup (72 grams) roasted salted almonds or unsalted shelled pistachios
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 60 grams Philly light cream cheese
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro or basil

Preparation

Step 1

* Heat oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell peppers and chile to taste. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables release some of their juices and the onion is lightly brown around the edges, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle the vegetables with paprika, salt and cardamom and cook, stirring, until the spices are very fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.

* Add pistachios and broth. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until the peppers are fork-tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the heat, and cream cheese and stir to melt then allow to cool.

* Puree until smooth in blender. Whisk buttermilk into the soup, along with torn basil, and puree again until desired consistency is reached.

* I've only had it plain, served cold, but it would benefit from some yogurt dressing or crema or some tiny olive oil croutons thrown in.

Nutrition Facts
5 Servings - 1 cup each

Calories 213.1
Total Fat 15.8 g
Saturated Fat 2.9 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.7 g
Monounsaturated Fat 9.0 g
Cholesterol 10.0 mg
Sodium 403.4 mg
Potassium 387.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate 11.5 g
Dietary Fiber 3.1 g
Sugars 6.0 g
Protein 7.4 g