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
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.
You're gonna have to tell me what "ethereal" means tonight when you get home from work.
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