Blending the sauce: I have an immersion blender, which I normally swear by, and I started by blending the vegetables and broth in the stock pot with it, but I wasn't getting the smooth and velvety consistency I wanted. So, I transferred it to my high-power blender and blamo, silky smooth! If you have a trusted immersion blender you can go that route first, but I wanted to give y'all the heads up.