Red Pepper Soup with Toasted Cumin

2 tablespoons grape seed oil (CJ used vegetable oil)
1 small red onion, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped garlic (CJ used a little more than 1 tablespoon. maybe 1.5 or 2)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon asafoetida
1/2 teaspoon Spanish paprika (CJ only had regular paprika at hand).
3 red peppers seeds removed and sliced
1/2 cup organic vegetable broth
1/2 cup white wine ( I used a 2008 Chardonnay - Le Fat Bastard) Où sont tous les hippopotames?
pinch salt and freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons cumin seeds (for garnish)

Chef's Note: I would suggest doubling the recipe if you want to feed more than three people.

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Well, I've been meaning to make this soup for a few weeks now. That Spice Goddess has some good stuff going down. The reason for the delay was the unavailability of asafoetida around these parts. I had to ask a kind female, east Indian shopper at the Superstore in Edmonton for some help in finding it. Let us all thank the "Big J" (that's what we/my family referred to him as for my cousin's wedding in Rio) for her help... Honestly I think the Thais and the Cariocas are the friendliest people on this planet - no question.

CJ has also received a lot of positive feedback about his ability to sexify the AIMCo black jacket in the IKEA cafeteria entry down below... but you will all just have to wait just a little bit longer for the Maître to make his appearance. Yes doesn't the beard look good? I'm sure the beard's appearance makes ALL females weak(er) in the knees. As the Count Halabuza (YESSS that's his beautiful main droit that holds the maple leaf) would say, it's very Bautista-esque...

This soup was probably the best tasting new/freshly cooked soup CJ has yet to blog about. No word of a lie.

Appearance-wise: it looked like that sauce covering buttermilk chicken, bright-red and full of promise.

Scent-wise: it was fantastic. I can't ever recall cooking with a Chardonnay before. As soon as it hit the saucepan, it tickled my olfactory glands like nothing else. It's a tempting mistress this scent!

Taste-wise: very heavy on the red pepper flavour. Not overly sweet at all. AND I was even more than generous with the salt and pepper during the seasoning as well.

What do the Sous-Chefs want? They have a photograph don't they? CJ is more than happy to oblige:

Those toasted cumin seeds are darn well near a genius idea. It adds to the viewing, tasting and smelling pleasure. CJ was REALLY  surprised how something so simple could add so much.

Grade: 8.9 out of 10 on a first night tasting!! The Chef will have a re-taste mañana...