Eatdrink Waterloo & Wellington #5 February/March 2019

42 | February/March 2019
Stuffed Bell Pepper Soup
eatdrink.ca |@eatdrinkmag
We all know that guy who says soup’s not a meal
unless it contains meat, right? I can see you nodding!
I guarantee you won’t hear any “where’s the beef?”
complaints when he eats this feast of a soup for
dinner, since it’s meaty, manly and mighty filling. Plus,
it really does taste like a stuffed bell pepper ... only
much easier to make!
1 tbsp olive oil
1 ¼ lbs (568 g) extra-lean ground beef
1½ cups diced green bell peppers
1 cup diced onions
2 tsp minced garlic
1 ½ tsp dried marjoram
1 ½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried fennel seeds (optional)
4 cups reduced-sodium beef broth
1 can (19 oz/540 mL) petite-cut tomatoes (with
liquid)
1 ½ cups tomato sauce (see Kitchen Whizdom)
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
Sea salt to taste
2 cups cooked brown rice
Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high
heat. Add beef. Cook and stir until beef is no longer pink
and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add bell peppers,
onions and garlic. Cook and stir until vegetables begin to
soften, about 3 more minutes.
Add marjoram, chili powder, basil and fennel seeds, if
using. Cook and stir for one more minute. Add beef broth,
tomatoes with their liquid , tomato sauce and pepper.
Bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer,
covered, for 30 minutes. Taste and add salt if needed. (I
almost always add salt at this point, depending on the
broth I use.)
If serving immediately, stir in cooked rice, then ladle soup
into serving bowls. If you’re planning on eating the soup
over the course of a couple days, keep the rice separate,
otherwise it’ll soak up all the broth.
Makes about 12 cups soup
Per cup: 174 calories
6.6g total fat (2 g saturated fat)
12.7g protein
16 g carbohydrate (2.4 g fiber, 4.6 g sugars)
26 mg cholesterol
222 mg sodium
KITCHEN WHIZDOM
I don’t like big pieces of vegetables in this soup, so I dice
the onions and bell peppers small and use “petite-cut”
canned tomatoes (usually with green peppers, celery and
onions added ... a good compliment to this soup). You can
use plain tomato sauce or your favourite, tomato-based
pasta sauce for extra flavour. For example, I often use
Classico brand Sweet Basil Marinara in this soup. By the
way, the chili powder doesn’t make the soup taste like
chili. It just makes it taste BETTER! Use the fennel seeds
if you like the mild black-licorice taste of Italian sausage.
Those with fennel phobia should leave it out.
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