Sweet Potato, Chipotle, and Apple Soup

As noted previously on the blog, for the Gastronomer's 28th birthday present I promised her a set of five extravagant home-cooked meals. A year before I had given her a similar gift and followed through with all five meals; however, this time after meal #2 she decided that she no longer wanted to spend her Saturdays alone while I slaved away in the kitchen on three- and four-course feasts. She requested that I put the meals on hold. I had come up with some awesome menus which featured recipes from a number of never-before-used cookbooks (our collection is growing faster than we can keep up), so I decided to make the dishes one-by-one on different days.

This soup was supposed to be part of a winter-themed menu. Its flavor was awesome--I'm not a big soup eater, but I was really into it. Additionally, it provided a great opportunity to try the immersion blender that we received as a wedding present [Thanks Diana!]. I skipped the step in the original recipe which called for garnishing with deep-fried tortilla strips, but the soup did go well with some yellow corn tortilla chips we had on hand. Tossing in crumbled up chips made it a bit more substantial--otherwise it was pretty ethereal. I had expected a creamy soup and was surprised by how thin it was.

Recipe from Food & Wine 2009 Annual Cookbook.

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 medium white onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 Gala apples—peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 1 celery rib, thinly sliced crosswise
• 1 3/4 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 quart chicken stock or low-sodium broth
• 3 cups water
• 1 small canned chipotle in adobo sauce, seeded and minced
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• Corn tortilla chips

In a medium soup pot, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook over low heat, stirring, until softened, about 7 minutes. Add the apples and celery and cook for 5 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and water and bring to a boil. Cover partially and simmer over low heat until the fruit and vegetables are very tender, about 45 minutes. Stir in the chipotle.

Puree the soup in the pot using an immersion blender, or transfer it in batches to a normal blender to puree until smooth. Season with 1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

In a small bowl, mix the cinnamon and sugar with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Sprinkle over the individual bowls of soup and garnish with broken tortilla chips.

Yield: 6 servings
Estimated Start-to-Finish Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Actual Start-to-Finish Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
Substitutions: I bought a 1-inch nub of ginger and used it all--you can't have too much ginger if you ask me. I also threw in an extra garlic clove. As noted above, I skipped the step which involved deep-frying tortilla chips in vegetable oil. It didn't seem worth the hassle.