13. Peggy’s Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup

This is from Not Your Mother's Weeknight Cooking. This is another recipe that looked simple and tasty--a good soup for a good fall night.

Peggy’s Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks
4 ½ cups chicken or vegetable broth, or more as needed
1 to 2 canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, coarsely chopped
½ to 1 cup crème fraiche
Juice of 2 fresh limes
Salt
Coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes and enough broth to cover. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, partially cover, and cook until the sweet potatoes are tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp knife, about 30 minutes. Stir in the chipotle chilies and adobo sauce.

2. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth. (Alternatively, let the soup cool for 10 minutes. Then, working in several batches, puree in a blender or food processor; return the mixture to the soup pot.) Cooking over medium –low heat, gently whisk in the crème fraiche and lime juice until well blended and hot. Season to taste with salt and more lime juice, if needed. Top each serving with a small spoonful of crème fraiche and a sprinkling of cilantro. Serve at once.



Shortcuts and Changes: I forgot to buy fresh limes, so I used about 2 tablespoons of bottled juice--basically to taste. I also don't care for cilantro, and honestly forgot to buy it, so I used some dried cilantro and just mixed it in at the end when I put in the chipotle and adobo. By the way, you will never use a whole can of chipotle with adobo sauce at one time. For the longest time I was throwing away what I didn't use as it went bad in the refrigerator before I could use it up. Now I put it in a plastic baggie, flatten it out, and freeze it. When I need some, I just chop of a piece of the frozen stuff. It works great!


Results: Nice, thick soup with a lot of flavor!


Keeper? Yes!