Sweet Potato Soup

For multiple reasons, I wanted to make this recipe.  Mainly, I had to use up the 3 lbs bag of sweet potatoes I bought.  Secondly, I wanted to try Mary Ann's tip for peeling potatoes.  I can't find out a culinary trick like that and not try it as soon as humanly possible!  To my delight it worked perfectly!  Mike made a comment that peeling the potatoes would have been quicker than waiting for the water to boil, boiling the potatoes for 15 minutes and then having to put them into an ice bath but where is the fun/adventure in that?

If you didn't watch the video, this is what you do:

Make an incision in the potato all the way around.

Boil a pot of water and drop the potatoes into the boiling water.

Boil for 15 minutes and then using tongs put the potatoes directly into ice cold water.

Place your fingers where you made your slice and start to gently pull your thumbs in opposite directions.

The skin pulls away so easily! 

Then your potatoes are ready for whatever you would like to use them for!  In my case, they are ready to go into my soup.  The recipe is a Giada De Laurentiis' recipe (I love her).  I knew I wanted to make sweet potato soup so, I started looking up all these different recipes and Giada's recipe seemed to fit what I like the most.  It turned out to be absolutely delicious! 

What you need for the Sweet Potato Soup:

• 3 tbs butter
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 3 large shallots, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2lbs of sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 6 cups of low-sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• 1/2 c. marscarpone cheese
• maple syrup (optional)

(apparently this is a recipe of 3's)

Start by heating 2 tbs of margarine and 2 tbs of olive oil in a large pot over med-high heat.  Once the oil/butter mixture is heated add the shallots and garlic to the pan.  Sautee until the shallots and garlic are soft, about 4 minutes.  Salt and pepper the mix.

Add sweet potatoes, rosemary and chicken broth to the garlic/shallot mix.  Bring to a boil and then back the heat off and let the pot simmer for about 25 minutes.  The potatoes should be nice and soft at this point.  Fish out the rosemary and discard at this time.

Either use an immersion blender (which, unfortunately, I do not have) or work in batches and puree in a food processor.  Be very careful if you are using a food processor to puree the soup, if you put too much liquid in, it will start leaking out.

Once the mixture is pureed, return it to a pot and place on low heat.  Stir in the mascarpone cheese.  Once all the cheese dissolves into the soup, it is ready to eat!

Giada puts maple syrup into hers.  I tried it both ways and I prefer it without it.  I suggest experimenting before adding it to the entire batch.

The soup is delicious and creamy.  Perfect for cold winter days.  I'm going to take it for lunch this week and I'm so excited!  It always helps having a good lunch to look forward to; it gets you through the morning :)