Italian Sausage and Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Roasted Red Pepper Soup
1. Set the oven to broil on high.
2. Clean the red peppers under water and dry. Cut them in half and take out the seeds and stem. 3. Place the halves, cut side down in a roasting pan. Place them on the top rack of the oven and pay close attention. You want the skin of the peppers to blacken. This may take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. Make sure to check every minute or so to see how the peppers are doing.
4. Once blackened, remove from the roasting pan and place them in a bowl and cover it with a lid or foil. Allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the peppers are cool enough to handle.
5. Then skin should now peel off with ease. Peel all the peppers, roughly chop them and set aside.
6. In a medium sized pot, add the butter or olive oil and heat on low to medium. Add the onions, carrots, celery, potato, garlic, paprika, chili powder, sea salt and pepper and allow to cook for 10 to 15 minutes.
7. Add the roasted peppers and the chicken stock (you may also use vegetable or beef stock). Bring to a simmer and allow everything to cook for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly, about 30 minutes.
8. Pour the chunky soup into a blender (or use an immersion blender) and process until smooth.

9. At this point, I like to taste the soup and add more sea salt if necessary.

Garlic-Parsley Cultured Cream Sauce
1. In a bowl, combine the cultured cream, garlic, parsley, sea salt and pepper. This is an excellent addition to the soup as a garnish. It adds wonderful flavour and creaminess as well as probiotics.

Crumbled Sausage
1. Remove the sausage from the casing and add it to a pan heated on low-medium. Using a spoon break up the sausage as you cook. Add the paprika and chili powder and cook through.

Assembly
1. Pour a generous amount of soup into your favorite bowl. Add a heaping dollop of the Garlic-Parsley Cultured Cream Sauce, and then some of the crumbled sausage.

2. Sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley and enjoy!