Sweet Potato Apple-Ginger Soup - My "New" Favorite Holiday Soup Recipe
Brrrrr! Holy fricken night it is cold outside! It was somewhat balmy until just the other day when the thermometer decided to do a nose dive.
My favorite way to combat the cold is to cook hot soup. Thankfully I had some leeks hanging around the fridge. In my humble holiday opinion leeks truly are the secret ingredient behind the best soups. You could use onions in a soup such as this one and it would turn out fine. The leek’s mild onion flavor puts it over the top!
Combined with the leeks are two large sweet potatoes, a Granny Smith apple, brown sugar and ground ginger. Mix them in the pot and you get this very tasty Sweet Potato Apple-Ginger Soup. It has a gentle sweet potato taste backed by a slightly sweet and savory flavor. It turned out much better than expected considering I prepared it based on what I had available in the kitchen. In fact, I'm going with this soup for the holiday dinner!
Speaking of the holidays, you may have noticed my “Cooking Song of the Day” selections over the last few weeks have been holiday tunes. I’ve been researching and posting songs that are not necessarily of the traditional variety. My research has paid off as I’ve found some fantastic tunes! There are a few I had never heard before and some older songs I had forgotten. One I hadn't heard in some time was The Pretenders' “2000 Miles”. It is an absolutely magical song! A song I’d never heard before was James Brown’s “Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto”. It has that funky James Brown sound I find hard to resist! Love it!
If you're looking for an quick soup recipe that's really good (my family gobbled this up quickly) keep this one in mind. As for the holiday songs, don't be shy to look around online to find some new and interesting selections. They may put a whole new wonderful spin on your holiday cooking experience!
What's your favorite Christmas song? It could end up being the “Cooking Song of the Day”
- Sweet Potato Apple-Ginger Soup
- A delicious combination of sweet potatoes, apples and ginger
- Instruments
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 leeks, chopped (white and light green parts only)
- 1 Granny Smith apple, cored, peeled and cubed
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 4 cups chicken broth
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ cup low-fat milk
Lyrics
In a large soup pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add leeks, apple, brown sugar and ginger. Cook and stir until leeks and apples begin to soften, about 4 minutes. Add sweet potato cubes, broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until sweet potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.
Working in batches, purée soup in a blender until smooth. Return puréed soup to pot and stir in milk. Cook over medium heat until heated through without bringing to a boil. Ladle hot soup into individual serving bowls.
Volume: Makes 6 servings
Brent Garell
The Kitchen Roadie