Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Perogies

There is something very comforting in a nice warm bowl of soup. Especially on days when you come home wet, tired and hungry. Again, thanks to Fine Cooking magazine, I was able to throw a couple of standard staples in my pantry to make this soup. I've kinda merged two of their recipes, which just goes to show you how versatile it really is.
To make this soup anytime, I would suggest always having these items in your cupboards: Canned diced tomatoes and a jar of roasted red peppers.


Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup

• 1 Tbs of olive oil
• 1 Tbs of butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 2 Tbs of flour
• 3 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 Tbs of thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• kosher salt and pepper to taste
• 1 roasted red pepper, diced
• 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes

1. In a large dutch oven, heat up oil and butter over med-low heat
2. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is soft (8 minutes) You want the onions to be brown but not burnt. The longer you spend time on this, the sweeter the onions will be :)
3. Add flour and stir to coat
4. Add broth, tomatoes, roasted red pepper, sugar, thyme, bay leaf and 1/4 tsp of salt and pepper. Stir to mix and bring to a simmer.
5. Reduce heat, and cover. Continue cooking for 30 more minutes.
6. Remove bay leaf. Use an immersion blender or food processor to blend until creamy.
7. To top it off, I add a mixture of goat cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper a little bit of olive oil.
   

While the soup was simmering and continuing with slow cooking onions=sweet, I decided to make some perogies. Thinly slicing some onions and cooking them with some oil over a low heat in a large skillet. I seasoned with some salt, pepper and herbes de provence.
Pulling the perogies from the freezer and boiled them for about 5 minutes. Drained and tossed them in the skillet with the by now shruken golden brown and sweet onions.