Pages

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Soup Sunday: Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup with Mole Spiced Nuts & Lime Crema

Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup with Mole Spiced Nuts & Lime Crema
I have a love for sweet potatoes. I would live off of them for the rest of my life. A couple years back when I was in the hospital, all I wanted were sweet potatoes. Finally, when I was allowed to eat food, I made sweet potato soup for every single meal and enjoyed it for about 2 months. That's just not normal. So, this soup would go down as one of my favorites. This is obviously a little bit different from the last time I made it because it has chipotle peppers to make it extra spicy. Then, the soup is topped off with a nut crumble that is extra special because it has the sweet flavors from a traditional Mexican Mole sauce. For some acidity, it is drizzled with a Lime Crema and garnished with fresh chopped cilantro. This soup is spicy, sweet, and creamy and just warms you down to the core. So go on and make this for yourself and a cold, lazy Sunday!! Enjoy :)
For Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup:
4 Sweet Potatoes, Peeled & Cubed
3 Stalks of Celery, Diced
1 Large Vidalia Onion, Diced
4 Garlic Cloves, Minced
4C Chicken or Vegetable Stock
2C Heavy Cream
2-4 Chipotles in Adobo, Roughly Chopped
1t Cumin & Cinnamon
½t Ground Cloves & Ginger
Salt & Pepper, To Taste

For Mole Spiced Nuts:
¼C Dark Brown Sugar
¼C Sugar 
2C Whole Nuts, Toasted (I used a mixture of Pecans, Walnuts, & Almonds)
1t Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
½t Cinnamon
½t Chipotle Powder & Paprika
Pinch of Cayenne
1 Egg White, Room Temperature
Salt & Pepper, To Taste (I did a good bit of salt for a sweet & salty combination)

For the Lime Crema:
8oz Mexican Crema or Sour Cream
2 Limes, Zested
1 Lime, Juiced
Salt & Pepper, To Taste

Directions:
1. For the Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup: In one large soup pot, sauté the onions, and celery in 2T melted butter for 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook one more minute. Add the sweet potatoes, broth, chipotles, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg to the pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer, covered, for 30 minutes until potatoes are tender. Puree the soup with an immersion blender until smooth. Stir in the heavy cream and season with salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm or simmer until you are ready to serve.
2. For the Mole Spiced Nuts: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Mix together the sugars, salt & pepper, cocoa powder, cinnamon, chipotle powder, and cayenne, making sure there are no lumps. Set it aside. Beat the egg white until frothy and add in the toasted nuts, and toss until evenly coated. Sprinkle the nuts with the sugar-spice mixture and toss until evenly coated again. Spread the sugared nuts in a single layer on a cookie sheet fitted with a Silpat. Bake for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. When completely cool, roughly chop the nuts and set aside until you are ready to garnish the soup.
3. For the Lime Crema: Mix together all of the ingredients in a bowl until incorporated and smooth. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
4. Serve the soup with a drizzle of Lime Crema and roughly chopped Mole Spiced nuts.

3 comments:

  1. This sounds great!! Our soup for today was my hubby's "Viking" stew. Which is great on It's own, but he hollowed out the bottom of home grown butternut squash, topped it with creamy mashed potatoes, then broiled until browned. He served it with a grainy, chewy brown bread. It hit the spot!! I'm going to try your sheeried tomai soup next Sunday, but now I will have to try this soup this week. Thanks for the time you spend inspiring me. Miss B.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your stew sounds so hearty and delicious, never heard of that type of recipe before, but I certainly would want to try it! And this soup is perfect if you like spicy because it definitely has a kick to it! But, I think the sweet nut crumble and the citrus-y cream balances the flavor beautifully! Lemme know how the soups turn out... and as always thank you for your kind comments :)

      XOXO,
      Juliana

      Delete
  2. He actually found the recipe on a historic food site, he just doesn't remember what website it was was. It's basically whatever meat you have on hand preferably with a bone, what ever root vegetables you have, and a good quality dark beer, he sautes all the veggies, then deglazes the pan with Jameson whiskey puts the meat in and cooks it for several hours or until meat is tender. Sometimes he thickens it, but really just wings it every time! It always comes out yummy, but never the same way. We have this for our annual Leif Eriksson bonfire party, which this year we will have to celebrate on the 13th, since the 9th is during the week.

    ReplyDelete