Putting garlic on food can give it unique flavour. That’s the kind of little tidbits I would use when I first started my cooking column over 20 years ago. Since then I have used hundreds of recipes and most of them I have made or tasted.
When I began my recipes on the air I was at CKBX radio in 100 Mile House, then moved to Williams Lake in 1981. Then Gil McCall started using my recipes on his show in the morning. Then Kathy McLean invited me: I should say Scott Nelson, the paper’s owner, asked me to come in and join their team and write cooking articles.
When the paper sold to the Tribune, I continued to write cooking columns. The only thing I regret was not doing a cookbook that Kathy and I talked about.
READ MORE: Soups provide a great meal, or set tone for multi-course dinner
Over the years Ken’s Country Kitchen has sometimes morphed into my editorial program with topic of the day.
Yes I do cook most of the recipes that I have shared over the years and do I have any favorites?
Certainly I do have some that have been requested more than others and some recipes I just favour.
When I did the Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards evening they auction off a six-course gourmet meal. For the Hors-D’oeuvre, there were: pineapple and cherries, smoked sockeye on cream cheese, asparagus and parmesan wrap, roasted red pepper soup with jalapeño cream, Coquille St. Jacques, scallops in wine sauce and cheese sauce. Intermezzo was blueberry swirl with blueberry merlot wine. Entree: wine marinated sockeye salmon, garlic potatoes whipped, and basil tomatoes. Then there was McKenzie Lake, which was spinach with pine nuts.
Dessert was Tiramisu.
Here is my recipe for the roasted red pepper soup.
• 3 tbsp green onions
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tbsp butter
• 8 red bell peppers, roasted and chopped
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup whipped cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cream
• 2 fresh Jalapeno peppers seeded and chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup whipped cream
Place red bell peppers on high heat on barbecue and char on all sides. Remove and let cool enough to handle the peel of the black skin and chopped the flesh of the pepper. Melt butter in a large stock pot and then sauté the onions along with the thyme.
Cook until onions are soft then add bell peppers, chicken stocks and simmer the mixture until peppers are very soft. This takes about 15 minutes. In a blender puree the mixture until it is very soft. Keep warm and add the cream on top of the soup just before serving.
Hope you enjoy this roasted red pepper soup — one of my favorites.
Bye for now and Goood Cooking.
Ken Wilson is a freelance columnist with the Tribune/Advisor.
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