I decided I needed a new soup this week having done most of my top five to death… Instead of starting with a recipe I just bought some stuff I haven’t used much. Not because I wanted to get all creative, pretty much because I was poorly organised and thought I’d get a few bits from the green grocer I’ve not used much before. I ended up with sweet potato among other things and that’s what I used for the soup.
Doing some research for sweet potato soups I quickly realised that I didn’t have one complete recipe, so here’s what I ended up doing. Its based around a Sophie Grigson recipe, but I didn’t have any star anise.
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 450g sweet potato chopped into 1-2 inch chunks
- 1 onion, chopped
- 150g red lentils, rinsed
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
- l tbsp tomato puree (aka one large squeeze if you’re using a tube)
- 1tsp grated nutmeg
- 2inch piece of cinamon – whole
- 1.5 litres of vegetable stock – hot
- Salt n pepper
To cook it:
- In a large caserole, start cooking the the onion then add the red pepper and spices on top. Cook gently (sweat) with the lid on for 10 mins or so
- Add the lentils and garlic and combine together, ensuring the onions aren’t sticking. Add the tomato puree and mix together
- Now add the stock and stir together – cook for about 20 mins or until the sweet potato is soft. Remove the cinammon
- Blend with a hand whisk, then taste and season as appropriate
