Did someone say ‘comfort food’?! This is a recipe that I concocted a week or so ago on a chilly winter’s day. It has sweet potatoes and normal potatoes, since that’s what I had on hand. Whenever I make a soup like this I always make loads more than we need so that we can have leftovers for lunch the next day – is there anything better than leftover soup for lunch?! We soaked up this deliciously chunky sweet potato soup with some crusty bread and went about our evening with warm, satisfied bellies. I was so excited about this soup and so ready to eat it that I forgot to take a picture both times that I ate it! I will try and take one next time.
8 small russet potatoes (peeled, cubed)
2 large sweet potatoes (peeled, cubed)
Half an onion (chopped)
1 or 2 stems of celery (finely chopped)
5 cups chicken broth
2 small bay leaves (or 1 large bay leaf)
Ground coriander
Curry powder (just a small dash – this is not a curry soup but I found that a teensy pinch of curry powder brought all the flavors together beautifully!)
Salt + Pepper
– In a big saucepan or Dutch oven saute the onion and celery in a bit of olive oil until tender. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 20-25 minutes until potatoes are cooked.
Discard both bay leaves and transfer to a food processor or blender and blend until desired consistency. Chris likes his soup to be chunky so I didn’t blend the soup for too long and actually kept some potato aside, mashed it by hand and then added it back in.
Return everything back to the saucepan and heat through. Re-season as needed. Serve with crusty bread, croutons or grilled cheese sandwiches! I’m sure you could freeze this soup too and save it for a rainy day.
Ami Loizides Pruett 