Sweet Potato Soup

We're in full soup mode here at Evolution Kitchen, as Old Man Winter has wrapped his icy fingers around our home. We like a lot of different kinds of soup, depending on our mood. Sometimes we only want a thin, brothy soup. And sometimes we want a thicker, heartier soup. 

The following soup is more in the hearty category. It is quite creamy and has an excellent flavor.

Creamy Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients

2 T oil

1 onion, chopped

2 small celery stalks, chopped

1 medium leek, sliced (white and pale green parts only)

1 large garlic clove, chopped

1 ½ lbs red-skinned sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 5 cups)

4 c chicken stock

1 cinnamon stick

¼ t ground nutmeg

1½ c  coconut milk

Steps

1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, saute about 5 minutes. Add celery and leek, saute about 5 minutes. Add garlic, saute about 2 minutes.

2. Add sweet potatoes, chicken stock, cinnamon stick, and nutmeg; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until potatoes are tender (about 20 minutes).

3. Remove cinnamon stick and discard. Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth. Return to pot.

4. Add coconut milk and stir over medium-low heat until heated through. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Rosemary Sweet Potatoes

Recently, we published a recipe for Roasted Spiced Sweet Potatoes, but here's a slightly different twist on the same theme. That recipe proves that the sweetness goes well with spiciness. This recipe will show how well that sweetness also compliments savory herbs like rosemary.

This is a perfect wintertime dish, mainly because it requires lengthy cooking in a hot oven. Nothing like warming up the house with the mouth-watering fragrance of roasted sweet potatoes!

Rosemary Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

2 T unsalted butter

2 T olive oil

1 T fresh rosemary, or 2 t dried

3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled

1 t salt

¼ t black pepper

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 450º. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a small skillet, then add the rosemary. Set aside.

2. Cut the sweet potatoes lengthwise in ½-inch thick wedges and place in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle on the butter mixture. Toss gently.

3. Arrange wedges in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake in the upper part of the over for 10 minutes. Turn over and continue baking another 10 minutes or until the potatoes are slightly browned. Serve hot.

Roasted Spiced Sweet Potatoes

We eat sweet potatoes year around, but consumption tends to go up in the fall because it is the quintessential fall vegetable. As I mentioned in this article back in February, we tend to avoid those recipes that add more sweetness to sweet potatoes. They are sweet enough as they are, and this sweetness lends itself well to other spices. In this dish, we add a little heat, some herbs, and fennel seeds. Quite an odd combination, but the flavor works well, and is subtle yet deep.

Roasted Spiced Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

1 t coriander seeds

1/2 t fennel seeds

1/2 t dried oregano

1/2 t dried hot red pepper flakes

1 t kosher salt

2 lb medium sweet potatoes

3 T vegetable oil

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.

2. Coarsely grind coriander, fennel, oregano, and red pepper flakes in an electric coffee/spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle. Stir together spices and salt.

3. Cut potatoes into ½-inch chunks.

4. Toss chunks with oil and spices in a large roasting pan and roast in middle of oven 20 minutes. Turn chunks over with a spatula and roast until tender and slightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes more.

Sweet Potatoes That Aren't

Most people eat sweet potatoes about once a year, usually at Thanksgiving. And it probably has marshmallows melted all over it, or glazed with maple syrup. In other words, the "sweet" in the sweet potato is what is emphasized.

But in other cultures, the sweet potato serves as more than just a dessert. They are a staple of the Maori in New Zealand, and sweet potatoes are enjoyed throughout the Caribbean, Asia, and parts of Africa. It's a shame these root vegetables are not more popular in the U.S. because they are delicious and more nutritious than white potatoes.

For us, the subtle sweetness of the sweet potato couples well with coconut, curry, and hot spices. You'll see lots of sweet potato recipes on this blog, but for now we'll start with a sumptuous soup.

This recipe assumes you're using a pressure cooker, which will cook up this dish under 15 minutes, but you can use a conventional pot; it will just take longer to get the potatoes tender.

Curried Coconut Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:

4 c chicken or vegetable broth

1 13-oz can coconut milk

2 T curry powder (adjust for your desired amount of "heat")

1 1/2 lbs sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

2 scallions, thinly sliced (keeping white and green parts separate)

1/2 c frozen peas

Steps:

1. In a pressure cooker, blend the coconut milk, broth, and curry. Add the sweet potatoes and white parts of the scallions.

2. Lock the lid and bring pressure to high. Lower temperature and maintain high pressure for 8 minutes. Remove the cooker from the heat and let the pressure reduce naturally for 5 minutes. Release the rest of the pressure using quick release.

3. Remove the lid and crush the potatoes slightly and stir into the broth. Add the peas and green parts of the scallions and place back on the heat. Cook for another minute until peas are tender.

4. Salt to taste.