Friday, October 10, 2008

FRUITS of our LABOURS



This weekend saw my husband harvesting his sweet potatoes. Of course until he dug them up he had no idea what he might find. To our complete surprise he had managed to grow some wonderful large potatoes. It is really exciting to have vegetables picked fresh from the garden knowing they are completely organic. Robin had done the hard work now it was my turn to create something delicious from his labours. Being that Autumn is upon us what can be better than a hot bowl of soup? And sweet potato soup sounded good to me. Let me say at this point I do not have recipes for all the different soups I prepare instead I have one guideline which I follow and add to that whatever I fancy on the day. The rule is simply this:
Use 3 x's the veg to onions and add stock or water and seasonings to taste.
I know it seems really too easy to believe but I can assure you it will work.

So today I sweated 1 onion in a tablespoon of olive oil with 2 tablespoons curry powder for about 5 mins on med heat until onion is soft.
I then added 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped.
You need to have all pieces roughly the same size so they cook at the same rate, but as this will be blended at the end, the size, in this case, doesn't matter. To this I added enough water, or you could use vegetable or chicken stock, to the pot to cover the vegetables, add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer, and cook until soft.
At this point I added, but not essential, 1 can coconut milk and then blended everything together. I like to use a hand blender but you can use whatever piece of equipment you have to hand. At this stage it was still a bit too thick so I added some boiling water until I had the right consistency. Sometimes I like it thicker, just depends, so suit yourself. Taste for seasoning and more add if you need to. With the addition of some chopped cilantro I had of pot of delicious sweet potato soup which had taken about 30min from beginning to end. This was fortunate as my husband called to say he was bringing someone home for lunch. The soup went down well with the addition of some nice crusty bread.

If you use the basic rule you can produce soups form carrots, parsnips, squash, cauliflower, or anything else you can think of. I sometimes use frozen peas, tins of tomatoes. Add mint to the peas and basil and garlic to the tomatoes. To the cauliflower I recommend stirring in some cheese at the end, to the carrot freshly grated ginger, ground at a push, is a nice compliment, once again just use your imagination. I use curry powder with sweet potato and butternut squash as it cuts through the sweetness of the vegetable.

So all that is left for you to do is get your imagination going and start producing some deliciously tasty soups, just perfect for a chilly Autumnal night.

4 comments:

julie said...

Mmmhh, I love soup! This one loks delicious, and with home grown potatoes, what could be healthier?

Maggie said...

How lucky you are to have your own sweet potatoes.
Thanks for the advice on making wonderful soup like yours.
Thank you for visiting my foodblog and leaving a comment.

Coby said...

I love the idea of having an outline of a recipe and then just tweeking it to the veg you use:) Especially where you can grow your own! Well done to your husband:)

Val said...

Just tried the soup and it was a big hit with my family. I couldn't believe how easy it was to make, I had to buy the sweet potatoes though!!!!I can't pursuade Jim to have veggie garden.