I’m a little late to the Fall soup party, but living in the valley of the sun delays the change of season just a little. To commemorate the first high temperature under 70 degrees of this Fall season (today the high is 69 and its freezing), I made this spicy and belly-warming roasted poblano soup. The inspiration for this soup came from a weekend getaway to Southeastern Arizona that included the annual stop at Apple Annie’s farm to pick pumpkins and various other u-pick produce. We’ve trekked down to Wilcox Arizona at least once a year in the past to snag our pumpkins and grab some produce, and this year we turned that pilgrimage into a weekend getaway and spent some time camping at the Chiricahua National Monument. I can’t recommend visiting there enough, it’s unbelievably gorgeous and the landscape is unlike anything I’d ever seen.
Now the produce at Apple Annie’s is always top notch, and being able to pick your own is a huge plus. Any chance we get to pick our own vegetables is a win. It’s still hatch chile season here in Arizona and really all things spicy pepper related. My wife’s favorite pepper is the poblano and I roast them often to use in salads, as a burger topping or a the vessel for being stuffed with some cheese and chorizo. The only problem with picking your own produce is that you’ll pick far more than you’d actually buy if it were at the grocery store and due to our mutual love of the poblano pepper this was no exception. After picking several pounds of poblanos, a plethora of other fresh veggies, a great selection of pumpkins and 1 tiny cucumber, we headed home after an incredible weekend away.
In my experience the smaller the poblano pepper, the spicier the flavor. This doesn’t always hold true but it’s a good rule of thumb when selecting your peppers. I usually buy gigantic poblanos because the Mexican grocery store here has some great poblanos always available and because I often stuff them, so size is very important as the larger they are, the more I can fit inside of them. At the farm we picked what was available, and the poblanos were on the smaller side. This led to a spicier soup, which I was totally ok with, but when selecting your peppers just think it through a little. It’s also important to discard the roasted poblano of the stem and ALL of the seeds prior to adding to your soup. Due to the variance in size, you’re looking for about 1 total pound of poblano peppers for this soup (weighed before roasting).
As with most soups, this is incredibly easy to make. Veggies, stock, boil, simmer, blend. It’s not time consuming and it will definitely spice up your fall and winter soup rotation. If you’re not into roasting poblanos, this will probably open your mind to just how easy it is to do and that poblanos should be a staple pepper in your home. If the final result is a little too spicy for your liking, add a little extra sour cream or even milk. If it’s not spicy enough, try some red pepper flakes……or maybe substitute jalapenos for the poblanos (please do not do this as you’re proceeding at your own risk and ruining a great bowl of soup, however please film your reaction of digging in and send it my way for comic relief).
Roasted Poblano Soup
Equipment
- soup or stock pot
- immersion blender, or traditional blender
Ingredients
- 1 pound poblano peppers about 6-7 medium sized poblanos
- 1 medium yellow onion chopped
- 1 medium carrot peeled and chopped
- 1 stalk of celery chopped
- 3 garlic cloves chopped
- 1 cup chopped spinach don't need to measure this out exactly, I just use 1 large bunch of spinach, chopped with stems removed.
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup milk use whatever milk you have on hand, but my preference in this soup is whole milk
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp za'atar if you don't have za'atar, use 1/2 tsp dried oregano and 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
To roast the poblanos:
- I like to roast my poblanos on my outdoor grill, however you can absolutely do them inside your oven. On the grill, I place the poblanos over medium heat, turning every few minutes until their skins are completely charred. This usually takes about 15 minutes total. Once the skins are charred, I transfer them to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for at least 30 minutes until they’re cool enough to handle. The covering of plastic wrap makes their skins slide off easily. I remove the stems and seeds, and chop the poblano flesh(doesn’t need to be a uniformed chop as you’re going to blend the soup later)and set the roasted poblanos aside until I’m ready to add them to the soup. If you’re roasting them in your oven, broil them for about 15 minutes, turning once. The skins will char and blacken and the peppers will puff up a little. Once they’re roasted, place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and follow the steps above. While the peppers are resting, you can chop all your other veggies and get your spices together.
Make the soup:
- In a large soup or stock pot, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat until the oil is hot and shimmering, and to that pot then add the onion, carrot and celery. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- After 5 minutes, to the pot, add the chopped roasted poblanos, spinach, garlic, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, za’atar, salt and pepper. Cook for another 2 minutes, stirring.
- Add the chicken stock and milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low-medium and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until it’s a creamy consistency and no chunks of veggies appear. If you don’t have an immersion blender, get one! But in this case, you can also use the transfer method to a traditional blender and blend in batches, but be careful not to burn yourself. Once the soup has been blended to your liking consistency, add the sour cream, and stir until well incorporated. At this point, if the soup is a little too spicy for your liking, you can add more sour cream or heavy cream. If you’re serving for guests, I would recommend leaving the soup as-is to this point and allowing each person to add their own desired amount of cream to mellow it out.
- To finish the soup in individual bowls, add a little swirl of crema or heavy cream, some red chile flakes, chopped parsley and a few little chive oil drops (regular oil is fine too).
