Readers Request: Sweet Potato Soup

I had a recipe request from a reader named Danielle for sweet potato soup. I know it's July and soup isn't exactly summer fare, but I knew I had to test out a soup for her. Truthfully, I've never made sweet potato soup. Months and months ago I tried my hand at butternut squash soup and failed miserably, so I hastily avoided anything similar. But I set my sights on this challenge, and by golly, I succeeded. Danielle, this is for you; I hope you enjoy the recipe.


Roasted sweet potato soup
Ingredients
- 2 large sweet potatoes or 3 medium, peeled, diced and roasted
- 2 tsp coconut oil
- 1 large carrot, finely chopped
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 ribs celery, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups vegetable stock (I used better than bouillon base)
- 1 15oz can coconut milk
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- Pinch of grated nutmeg
- S&P, to taste

Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425. Toss sweet potatoes in coconut oil, S&P and roast for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through. Set aside.
- In a large sauce pan, saute aromatics in olive oil until they begin to sweat. Add stock, sweet potatoes, bay leaves and coconut milk. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes. Take off burner and allow to cool for a few minutes. Remove bay leaves.
- Ladle soup into blender in batches. Puree until smooth, pour into a large bowl and add back into the sauce pan once all of the soup is pureed.
- At this point, you can warm the soup and serve. However, I put mine in the crockpot and set it to warm for a couple hours while I did other things. The longer it sits, the better it gets!

Now, I don't know about you, but I like some texture contrast in my food. Eating a big bowl of creamy soup is delicious, but I need a little somethin' somethin'. So, what did I do, you ask? I made curried chickpea croutons.



Super simple. I tossed one 15oz can of chickpeas in 2 tsp olive oil, homemade curry powder (I'll post about that soon!), S&P and roasted them in the oven for 40 minutes at 350, shaking every 10 minutes. They get crispy and deliciously nutty and go perfectly atop this creamy soup. Since I'm being stingy with the curry recipe, just use your preferred blend and it'll be fine.




The flavors of this soup were out of control. Admittedly, I kind of tossed in random ingredients and hoped it would work. Luckily, it worked incredibly well. Sometimes those recipes come out the best!