12 October 2010

Chipotle sweet potato soup

Yeah, I know, I need to post about the cheese-beer-food pairing dinner, but I've been busy measuring how much iron exists in the outer layers of some of the oldest stars in the galaxy. (Wow, that sounds so much more interesting than it actually is.) For now, here's a recipe for chipotle sweet potato soup. I started with the Homesick Texan's recipe and modified it slightly. I'll be serving this at a dinner party I'm throwing on Friday, but more on that later.


chipotle sweet potato soup
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 t ginger, minced
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1/2 t nutmeg
1 t smoked sweet paprika
6 c stock (chicken or vegetable work well)
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2-3 chipotles in adobo, diced
2 1/3 T brown sugar
juice of 1/2 lime
evoo, salt

1) Heat evoo in stock pot over medium heat.
2) Add in onion, celery, carrots and a pinch of salt. Sweat.
3) Add in spices and stir to coat vegetables.
4) Add in garlic and ginger and stir until fragrant (~1 minute).
5) Add in stock, sweet potatoes, chipotles and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are fork tender.
6) Stick blender it.
7) Add in brown sugar and lime juice and stir until dissolved.
8) Taste for seasoning

Serve with honey butter croutons* and a sprinkle of sea salt.

The chipotles are a bit smoky, but they're way hotter than they are smoky. I think that the sweet potatoes match well with spicy, smoky flavors (see Thanksgiving 2008) but too much chipotle renders the soup inedible to delicate tongues, thus I added the smoked sweet paprika. I played with adding fleur de sel at the end, but it melts really quickly (and it's really freaking expensive) so I found a smoked sea salt to finish that doesn't dissolve so fast.



*Honey butter croutons= Bake[Toss[Mix[1/2 T honey+1/2 stick melted butter + 1/8 t vanilla extract + 1 t smoked sweet paprika] + Drizzle[extra virgin olive oil]+ Cube[day old bread]],350,~10 minutes]

and if you can't read the Bakematica scripting language:

mix 1/2 T honey+1/2 stick melted butter + 1/8 t vanilla extract + 1 t smoked sweet paprika. combine with evoo. toss with cubed bread. bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. :)

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