Sweet potato / apple / chipotle soup
This has been the winter of colds, hasn't it? I feel like I've been sick for my fair share of the year already and it's only the beginning of February. Fred (lucky dog) had escaped the germs until he woke up the other day sounding super snarfy (yes that is a word).
What better cure for a head cold than some warm soup - and it's not only temperature hot, but the chipotle in this soup will give a nice kick in the pants to the germs setting up camp in your sinuses.
Now keep in mind that just one chipotle, even though it's been seeded, still provides quite a bit of heat. You might want to just do half, or go easy on the adobo sauce until you taste the soup after pureeing. The beauty of cooking is that once you get familiar with ingredients you know how to fix any problem that arises. Not spicy enough? Puree in more adobo or chipotle. Went overboard and the soup is burning your taste buds off? Try adding in some milk or cream. Careful on how much you add - it will change the consistency of the soup.
Since this is my first recipe blog and I'm just getting used to this new form of writing, wanted to let the reader know one thing that drives me crazy about most recipes I read online. I do not know WHO is responsible for estimating the time it takes to make these things, but I do know that there is just no way that they take into consideration, say, the time it takes to peel and slice 2.5 pounds of potatoes. No one (that I know of) has a sous chef at home that prepares all their mise-en-place for them! So I'm going to really do my best to give you an accurate time estimate and difficulty level for each recipe. We're all different of course plus if you don't have time saving instruments like a mandoline or an immersion blender, this recipe will undoubtedly take you a bit longer.
Back to the soup - what I enjoyed most about this recipe is the homemade corn chips - they add a subtle sweetness to the soup without making the soup taste like dessert.
The original recipe calls for some ingredients that I am either allergic to (garlic...le sigh) or do not enjoy (ginger). That's the beauty of cooking for yourself - you just simply omit or substitute! If you're vegetarian, sub in veggie stock for the chicken. Here's my version:
Sweet potato / apple / chipotle soup
Makes about 6 servings
Time: About 1.5 hours (but much of this is just the soup simmering)
Level: Easy
Ingredients - Soup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium white onions, finely chopped
Sprinkle of garlic powder (I know, I shouldn't even do this, but I love the taste of garlic so I tempted fate)
Sprinkle of ground ginger (if I make this again, I wouldn't even add this. The aroma of the ginger in my spice jar was barely there so it didn't add anything at all to the soup...if you're a ginger fan, I would definitely do like the original recipe said and chop up some fresh ginger.)
3 apples (I used 2 Gala, 1 McIntosh because that was what was in my fridge) - peeled, cored and chopped
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
2.5 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (a mandoline works great here)
5 cups chicken stock
4 cups water
1 small canned chipotle in adobo sauce, seeded and finely chopped (see note above about starting out with less if you aren't a huge fan of spice)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Ingredients - Corn chips
1 cup vegetable oil, for frying
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 corn tortillas, cut into 1/2-inch strips
Directions:
In a good size soup pot (my Le Creuset 5.5 quart pot worked perfectly here), heat 2 tablespoons of oil over low heat until it begins to shimmer.
Add the onion, garlic powder and ground ginger and cook, stirring, until softened (about 7 minutes).
Bring the heat up to medium; add the apples and celery and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the sweet potatoes and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the chicken stock and water and bring to a boil. Cover partially and simmer until everything is very tender, about 45 minutes.
While the soup simmers, make your corn chips:
In a small bowl, mix together the cinnamon, sugar, and salt.
Heat the remaining 1 cup of oil in a medium sized frying pan over high heat.
Add the tortilla strips and fry, continuing to stir and rotate the chips around, until crisp and golden, about 2-3 minutes.
Drain onto paper towels and sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar-salt mixture.
When the soup has finished simmering, stir in the chipotle/adobo.
Puree the soup - I HIGHLY recommend getting an immersion blender if you don't already have one. They are extremely handy, very inexpensive, and save you from having to puree in batches in a blender.
Season with salt and pepper (and extra chipotle/adobo, if desired) to taste.
Garnish the soup bowls with the fried tortilla strips. No worries if the chips don't stay upright - they stay relatively crispy in the soup, and when they fall in, their sweetness balances out the heat in the soup perfectly.
Mangia!