{"id":980,"date":"2015-06-23T23:34:01","date_gmt":"2015-06-24T04:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pcandres.com\/?p=980"},"modified":"2015-11-06T11:28:29","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T17:28:29","slug":"not-the-weightiest-of-concepts-pear-pepper-soup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/?p=980","title":{"rendered":"Not the Weightiest of Concepts: Pear &amp; Pepper Soup"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none\"><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fthesoupblog.com%2F%3Fp%3D980&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=true&amp;action=like&amp;font=arial&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;width=450&amp;height=30\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width: 450px; height: 30px;\"><\/iframe><\/div><p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_981\" style=\"width: 435px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Pepper-Balance.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-981\" class=\"size-full wp-image-981 \" title=\"A True Lightweight\" src=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Pepper-Balance.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"425\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Pepper-Balance.jpg 708w, https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Pepper-Balance-100x74.jpg 100w, https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Pepper-Balance-300x222.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 425px) 100vw, 425px\" \/><\/a><\/strong><p id=\"caption-attachment-981\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A True Lightweight<\/p><\/div>\n<p>As I sit at my computer thinking about this next post, I can come up with any number of credible reasons why I chose to make Pear and Pepper soup this week:<\/p>\n<p>The nearness of Valentine\u2019s Day inspired me to create a soup out of bell peppers as red as roses.<\/p>\n<p>Because my youngest daughter rushed down the stairs tonight telling me that it was five o\u2019clock and the sun was still up. \u201cThe days are definitely getting longer,\u201d she declared, e.g. this soup is the first prelude of spring.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s even possible that I made this soup to thumb my nose at New York because the Times was mocking Chicagoans for being wimps about the latest blizzard. \u00a0In short, it was smaller than Philadelphia\u2019s biggest snowstorm and no big deal for the people of Buffalo (forget that NYC was paralyzed by far less).<\/p>\n<p>Okay, maybe that last reason isn\u2019t so credible. Still, each of these reasons has a grain of truth to it.\u00a0 It\u2019s just that none of them really ring true because none of them <em>are<\/em> true.\u00a0 As the new media gurus would say, they\u2019re all \u201cinauthentic.\u201d\u00a0 (This from the people who claim that modern advertising is less about selling and more about \u201chaving a conversation.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>I expect that if I just made up a bunch of stories and posted them here, they wouldn\u2019t be all that engaging (as opposed to this?). \u00a0My proof lies in a pastor who used to preach occasionally at a church I attended. \u00a0He would make up stories to illustrate the point of his sermons, but because the stories were so clearly fabricated, they lacked any real human element.\u00a0 The result was that his messages were not only tedious, they were positively lightweight.<\/p>\n<p>And believe me, I know a thing or two about lightweight.\u00a0 I write about soups.<\/p>\n<p>Right, that again.<\/p>\n<p>The fact is I chose to make this soup because I had made it many, many years ago and the sight of all those lovely red peppers at the local Dominick\u2019s reminded me of that old concoction. \u00a0(Maybe I should have stuck with a made up reason.)<\/p>\n<p>This soup is fresh, easy and delicious.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also real.<\/p>\n<p>All right, maybe I do just make these recipes up, but then I put the raw materials into a soup pot and turn them into something concrete (though not as thick). If I do a good job, the soups stand on their own and I don\u2019t need to contrive a grand narrative around their origins.<\/p>\n<p>This Pear &amp; Pepper soup definitely stands on its own.<\/p>\n<p>Which means I\u2019d better shut up now.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pear &amp; Pepper Soup<br \/>\n<\/strong>(serves 6-8)<br \/>\n1 T canola oil<br \/>\n1 large onion, chopped<br \/>\n8 bell peppers (red, yellow and\/or orange), cored, seeded and chopped<br \/>\n6 cups stock<br \/>\nsalt &amp; pepper to taste<br \/>\n3 pears (I used Bartletts), peeled and cored<br \/>\n1 T tarragon<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Heat the oil over medium heat in a 3 quart soup pot,      add the onion and peppers and saut\u00e9 until tender.<\/li>\n<li>Add the stock, seasoning and pears, bring the mixture      to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about thirty minutes.<\/li>\n<li>Puree the soup with an immersion blender until it has a      smooth, almost creamy, texture.<\/li>\n<li>Add the tarragon and heat through, then serve warm,      maybe with a nice sandwich, maybe a grilled cheese or a something on a      nice fresh baguette.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>Image Credit: <\/em>\u201cA True Lightweight\u201d\u00a0 ClipArt fun that won\u2019t weigh you down, mashed up by the author.\u00a0 <strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>After wandering around in the dark for most of this posting, I manage to find a light source.\u00a0 Let me know if you find it illuminating, you know, in the comments. <\/strong><strong>I\u2019ll be reading <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">and<\/span> responding.<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I sit at my computer thinking about this next post, I can come up with any number of credible reasons why I chose to make Pear and Pepper soup this week: The nearness of Valentine\u2019s Day inspired me to create a soup out of bell peppers as red as roses. Because my youngest daughter [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,13,126,35,14,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bell-peppers","category-soups-that-have-been-pureed-blended-pulverized","category-no-dairy-products","category-fruit","category-no-meat-fish-poultry-dairy-or-any-other-animal-products","category-vegetarian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=980"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1297,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980\/revisions\/1297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesoupblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}