Remember Bob Ross and his happy accidents? This soup was the result of a happy accident, in some ways. NO I DIDN’T PUT TOO MUCH BURNT SIENNA ON MY FAN BRUSH!! I just made the roasted red pepper-almond sauce too hot and spicy. That’s right, the one we made with our empanadas. So last night, with fiendish cleverness and calculation, I decided to use the sauce as a base for a soup! Thus spreading the spicy joy around, and rendering it more palatable. I decided to add roasted butternut squash because it’s so mild and sweet that it could easily accommodate a bit of heat. And then I thought about all the roastiness going on, with the pepper, and the chipotle, and the squash, and I thought fire-roasted tomatoes would go well (from a can, unfortunately – it being February). So I made this lovely, velvety, sweet, smoky, spicy bisque.

Here’s Lee Perry with Roast Fish and Cornbread, because, let’s face it, I’m never going to have recipe for roast fish, and this song is wonderful!

1 smallish butternut squash (or half a large one – that’s what I used)
1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, or about 2 cups, if you can roast your own.
olive oil
2 or 3 cups water or veg broth
1 large shallot – finely diced
1 clove garlic – minced
1 t tomato paste
1 t. basil
1 t. paprika
1/2 t. cardamom
1/2 t coriander
1/4 t. ginger
salt and black pepper

1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup roasted red peppers
2 smallish tomatoes, roughly chopped (or about 1/2 cup from your can of tomatoes)
1 t. chipotle puree
1 T olive oil
1 T balsamic

I’m going to assume you hadn’t made too-spicy sauce the night before, so we’ll start from the beginning…

Cut the squash in half, remove the seeds, and put it cut-side down on a baking sheet. Roast at 450 for 40 minutes or so (depending on the size) till it’s brown, and soft, and starting to caramelize on the edges. Leave to cool for a bit.

Process the almonds, peppers, tomatoes, chipotle, olive oil and balsamic until quite smooth. Set this aside.

In a large soup pan, warm some olive oil. Add the shallot. Then the garlic and the basil. Then the tomato paste. Stir until everything starts to get a bit brown.

Peel the squash and chop it roughly. You want to have about two cups. Put these in the soup pot and stir to heat through. Add the tomatoes, stir and cook. Add the almond/pepper combo and the spices. Stir and cook a few minutes. Then add water or broth to cover by about an inch. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for ten or fifteen minutes.

Add salt and pepper, a dollop of vinegar and a bit of butter (unless you’re vegan!). Process the soup in small batches till it’s nicely velvety smooth. Return to the pot and put the pot on the heat. Add water or broth as necessary to get the consistency you desire, and warm it up again.

Add plenty of salt and pepper. Taste for balance of sweet, acid, spicy.