What I love about soup is that it can offer a flavor that suits any occasion or every season. From the cold wintry nights to the warm summer evenings, each variety of soup can awaken your taste buds and make your mind more invigorated. One such soup that blends smoothly with the cold wintry nights is the sweet potato soup.
To prepare around six to eight servings of the sweet potato soup, you need 1 ½ pounds of red-skinned sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into one-inch pieces coming to around 5 cups, 1 cup of chopped onion, 1 medium sliced, leek, 1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped, 2 chopped small celery stalks, 2 tbsp of butter, 1 cinnamon stick, ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg, 1 1/2 cups half and half, 4 cups of chicken broth, along with 2 tbsp of maple syrup and the leafy tops finely chopped celery stalks.
Place a heavy-bottomed saucepan under a medium-high heat. Melt butter and add the chopped onion. Sauté the onion in the butter for about five minutes. Once done, mix chopped celery stalks and leeks to it. Continue to sauté the mixture for another five minutes. Then, add the chopped garlic to it and continue to sauté for two more minutes.
Add sweet potatoes, cinnamon stick and the nutmeg and pour the 4 cups of the chicken broth into it. On boiling, lower the flame and leave it to simmer for about twenty minutes until the sweet potatoes go tender and cooked. Make sure that you leave the pan uncovered during this time.
After twenty minutes or once the potatoes are done, remove cinnamon stick and then place the mixture in the blender until it becomes smooth. Blend in batches to get a smooth well-blended mixture.
Transfer the contents to the pan. Add half and half and maple syrup to it. Stir it in low-medium heat until fully done. Add ground pepper and salt before serving.
Typically, the sweet potato soup is prepared one day before serving and refrigerated. Care should be taken to remove the celery before refrigerating. Before serving the next day, simmer it and then sprinkle with freshly chopped celery leaves. Some add a bit of lemon juice to add to the tangy flavor of the soup.
This soup complements well with broiled red snapper with pine nut coating, steamed salmon with tomato sauce and julienne vegetables, penne with mushroom sauce and potato cheese prioshki to name a few.
Visit our soup section to read about our other soup recipes.
