Spicy Sweet Potato Soup

This is a variation on Judith Finalyson's "Slow Cooker Recipes". You don't have to use New Mexico Chili Pepper for this but, it works really well. Ancho might giv you more of a chocolatey taste.












This was probably the best soup I've ever made, and I've made a lot of soup. Not that I make just any soup. I pick them carefully. There has to be more than a simple aesthetic attraction. I have a current love affair with spicy sweet potato in general, but wow...this meal was beautiful. My only regret is not making a double batch. Soup, like many relationships, is not meant to last.

The recipe originally comes from Judith Finlayson's "Slow Cooker Recipes" but I changed a few ingredients, modified a few quantities, and cooked it on the stove.

Ingredients:

2-4 dried New Mexico Chili Peppers (soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes, then de-stemmed and chopped finely. Leave the seeds in and just remove the top). 2 was fine, but I couldn't taste the heat, so if you like it hotter, try 3, and if it's still not hot enough, the next time try 4. There will be a next time. Be careful substituting chili powder. That can go disastrously...make sure it's mild Mexican chili, not cayenne, and start with a tablespoon and work your way up.

2 tsp. olive oil
1 large onion, roughly chopped
A few cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 tsp salt
A pinch of dried oregano
2 large peeled and roughly cubed sweet potatoes
6 cups of broth (I used a mixture of lamb and chicken that were sitting in my freezer, but vegetable or chicken would work fine. I hoped the lamb would give the soup a richer flavour and I don't think it worked, but it didn't need to since the soup was exquisite anyway...and more importantly it made room in my freezer)

2 cups of corn kernels (frozen is better than canned, but if you use canned, leave out the tsp. of salt)

2 tsp. grated lime zest
2 1/2 tbsp. lime juice
2 red peppers

A little bit of chopped cilantro to garnish (optional, but very nice)
















This is not tequila. It's just a good way of showing how much lime juice and zest you need...

Basically my adjustments were upping the seasonings. I found the soup a little bland at first but adding more lime and zest that had been soaked in a tsp. of oil worked perfectly.














First roast the red peppers: Preheat the broiler. Cut the peppers in half and remove the core and seeds, and place them cut-side down on a baking sheet. Broil them until the tops are black (the trick here is make sure the peppers are fairly flat on the baking sheet, so the top doesn't blacken first and leave the sides red. To fix this, cut off the sides and lay all the pieces flat. It makes for more work peeling later, but at least all of the peppers actually will blacken, making the peeling step easier in the long run. The broiling doesn't take very long, so check after a few minutes, and check regularly until the tops are blackened. Then stick them into a heat-proof, non-plastic bowl or container and cover for 30 minutes. Sweating the peppers like this will also make them easier to peel. Since you don't need them right away because you did this before making the soup, you'll be fine (DO THIS BEFORE MAKING THE SOUP! Waiting for garnish to sweat is no fun).

Oh yeah, I actually baked them at 400 degrees in the toaster oven, as that's what the book actually said to do to blacken them (bake them, not specifically in the toaster oven). That didn't work. Either the book is wrong or my toaster oven is wrong, but I love my toaster oven...and I love the book. Either way, peeling them was annoying. Good thing they were so delicious in the end.














Heat the oil on medium in a large pot and then sauté the onions. Cook and stir for 6 minutes, then add the garlic, oregano, chopped chilis, salt (if you're using frozen corn), and cook for 1 minute just to coat everything in the New taste of Mexico. See? Much catchier than "the taste of Ancho"...













Add the sweet potatoes and broth, bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat to medium-low to simmer for 20 minutes, or until the sweet potato is tender (this depends on how finely you chopped the sweet potato. If not all the pieces are the same size, check the bigger ones to make sure they're done).

Now peel the red pepper and tear into strips. Set aside.

Blend the soup in a food processor or blender in batches and pour back into the pot. This is the most annoying step (assuming the sweet potato blackened correctly) but the texture will be worth it. Do not:

1) Lift the blender lid while blending
2) Stick a utensil in the food processor to help the blending along
3) Get fed up and just eat the soup now.














When it's back in the pot add the corn, lime zest and juice (I let the lime zest soak in a tsp. of olive oil so I poured the whole thing in). Cook 5 minutes on medium heat until the corn is ready.

To serve, ladle the soup into bowls, lay a few red pepper strips over each other artistically, dry your hands, sprinkle a little cilantro on it all, and call yourself accomplished.

OH! Then thank New Mexico for putting together chili peppers, lime juice and sweet potatoes (the secular version of saying grace), and enjoy.