Sweet Potato Soup and Relaxin-Tiiiiiiiiime

Cliff Muncy to Me | 7:07 PM (15 hours ago)

Keep crankin' out the productivity bayba! Good job ;-)
See you momentarily for our fabulous relaxin- tiiiiiiime!!

Husband and I work hard so that we can play hard. Our relaxin-tiiiiiiime hasn't gotten old yet, and I don't expect it ever will. It usually involves some type of food, sitting next to each other on the couch, and watching a Star Trek TNG episode. Or three. Last night, I decided I was going to cook. See I had cleaned out the fridge, and I don't know what was more disturbing: finding a take out box with 1/2 of a leftover burger from when my mom was in town, or that after having stripped the fridge of old-non-edibles all that was left was a bottle of V8 juice, two containers of cream cheese, and one slice of bacon. 

It goes without saying, but: I haven't done much cooking lately. I think that is mostly due to my head and my heart being in two very different places which naturally leaves things disconnected and disjointed. Yesterday I decided to change that, and placed my Lowe's Food To Go order after doing something rare: I asked Cliff if he had any special requests for meals. He usually leaves that up to me, and I am tremendously blessed to have a non-picky-eater-husband-person who will excitedly eat whatever is put in front of him (unless it involves fishy-fish, or broccoli not smothered in some kind of gooey fake cheese product, or spinach). He requested the following:

• Chicken salad sandwiches
• Cucumber sandwiches
• Tuna fish sandwiches
• Apple sandwiches
• Waffles
• Sausage links
• Stringy-beef-meat-roast-type stuff (his words, not mine)
• Tapioca pudding
• Potato soup
• Black bean soup
• Cheesy grit stuff (i.e. cheesy grits with a fried egg mixed in)

Yep. So.....

Since he had requested potato soup, and since I was feeling fall'ish, I decided to attempt something I had never attempted before: soup that involves a blender, i.e. Sweet Potato Soup. I've always been wary of the weird pureed, kinda sweet, kinda savory soups. It's a texture thing, and a "wow, is that maple syrup AND cajun seasoning?" thing. Also the idea of eating soup out of a pumpkin screams Martha Stewart coiffure (no offense if you eat soup out of a pumpkin, or have a Martha Stewart coiffure). But really, what better way to break back into cooking than to destroy the kitchen with baking props and onion slivers? "NONE! There is no better way", said I.

Sidebar: it's literally taking two dishwasher loads to wash everything that I dirtied to make this soup. True story.

So I set out to make this soup. Sometimes I like to pretend that I'm on Food Network by getting all of my ingredients set out, arranged, prepped, and chopped. Except I'm the one crying over chopping onions and putting them in a little prep bowl - not a sous chef. I'm really bad about forgetting an ingredient because I was distracted by something shiny (or on fire), and this REALLY helps make sure I don't leave anything out.

But I digress. Besides the prep, and the inordinate amount of cooking utensils that I had to use, it was relatively simple to make, and tasted so so so SO good. I paired the soup with buttermilk drop biscuits and cinnamon honey butter. HEAVEN! Actually, after we snuggled down on the couch to watch Star Trek, Cliff  ate the first spoonful of his soup, bit into that flaky buttermilk biscuit, and called me the devil. In the world of food, that's high praise as far as I'm concerned.

This soup has officially taken its place in my Having Folks Over For Dinner recipe arsenal. If you decide to try it, let me know what you think! Or just c'mon over for dinner. What's one more kitchen disaster anyway? :-)

Creamy Sweet Potato Soup
(adapted from Simply Recipes) 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Tbsp (1/4 stick) butter
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 small celery stalks, chopped
• 1 large garlic clove, chopped
• 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 5 cups)
• 4 cups chicken stock (use vegetable broth for vegetarian option)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups half and half
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup
• The leafy tops of the celery stalks, chopped

METHOD

1 Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté for about 5 minutes. Cry. Add chopped celery stalks, sauté about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 2 minutes.

2 Add sweet potatoes, chicken stock, cinnamon stick, and nutmeg; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.

3 Remove cinnamon stick and discard. Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth. Return to pot.

4 Add half and half and maple syrup and stir over medium-low heat to heat through. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with celery leaves. Or not. Serves 6 to 8.

 

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Buttermilk Drop Biscuits
(adapted from November-December 2007 Cook's Illustrated)

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. sugar
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 1 stick + 2 tbsp. butter
• 1 cup buttermilk

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.
2. Melt the 1 stick butter and let cool about 5 minutes.
3. Whisk together the dry ingredients.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the melted butter and the buttermilk, and stir until clumps form.
5. Stir the liquid into the dry ingredients until just incorporated and the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or use a well-seasoned Pampered Chef baking stone, which I do).
7. Using a ¼ cup dry measure, scoop out and drop 12 balls of dough onto the baking sheet (this is easier if you spray the measuring cup with nonstick cooking spray).
8. Bake until the tops are golden brown, about 14 minutes.
9. Let cool on a wire rack.
10. Meanwhile, melt the remaining 2 tbsp. butter and brush the tops of the biscuits with the butter (or cinnamon honey butter) before serving. Yield: 12 biscuits

Comments

[Betty DeMers]

That's my girl!!! This entire post just makes. me. happy. And not a little bit hungry and intrigued by the idea of low-carbin' sweet potato soup! Mmmmm. Does sound yummy. Cliff is a LUCKY man. A blessed man. And what's more precious? He KNOWS it!!!

[Sara]

LOL, absolutely! Oh, you would soooo love this soup.