Roasted Broccoli, Potato and Vintage Cheddar Cheese Soup

Fresh broccoli, heirloom garlic and Yukon gold potatoes are lightly buttered, seasoned with sea salt and cracked black pepper and roasted until golden brown.  The vegetables are then simmered in a rich base of homemade vegetable stock with vintage yellow and Jasper Hill clothbound cheddar cheeses (in Austin, try Antonelli’s Cheese Shop in the Hyde Park neighborhood).  Seasoned with Piment d’Espelette and just a few red chili pepper flakes..

Roasted Broccoli, Potato and Vintage Cheddar Cheese Soup

The Espelette pepper (French: Piment d’Espelette; Basque: Ezpeletako biperra) is a variety of chili pepper that is cultivated in the French commune of Espelette, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, traditionally the northern territory of the Basque people.

Originally from Mexico and to a lesser extent South America, Piment d’Espelette was introduced into France from the New World during the 16th century.  After first being used medicinally, it subsequently became popular for preparing condiments and for the conservation of meat and ham.

Espelette peppers are harvested in the late summer, with characteristic festoons of peppers are hung to dry on balconies and house walls throughout the communes. –Wikipedia

This post is part of Meatless Monday, a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns
in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health.