Sweet potatoes! I’m very excited. Sweet potatoes! (Did I already say that?)
Last year I think it was the end of October before we had sweet potatoes in our box. This is truly the vegetable that says “fall” to me. I got home too late tonight to do anything with these beauties, but I’ll be making my traditional start of fall meal tomorrow just in time for the autumnal equinox at 5:05am on Friday morning. (I think I’ve made the calculation about the time right …)
I’ll be sautéing my sweet potatoes with some of those beautiful apples in a little bit of butter, and then adding honey or maple syrup, depending on my mood. This is a fall favorite in my household. Sometimes I add some sausage, sometimes I add some greens …. however it’s fixed we absolutely love it. And the smell of those sweet potatoes cooking tells me fall has arrived.
The complete contrast will be the cold salad of steamed spaghetti squash tossed with olive oil, a little lemon juice and lots of chopped tomatoes, then seasoned with plenty of salt and pepper that I’ll also be making. It’s that time of year when what you want to eat can go in any number of directions.
Just on the chance that more sweet potatoes are in our future (and maybe another cool snap), here’s a soup recipe from “Sara Moulton’s Everyday Family Dinners” (Simon & Schuster, $35). The recipe calls for 4 sweet potatoes, but if your box, like mine, had just 3 sweet potatoes, that will work fine as well. And feel free to substitute a jalapeno or two for the chipotles. Chipotles are just ripened, smoked jalapenos so you’ll still be getting the heat but not the smoky flavor. If you substituted bacon for the Canadian bacon, it would all even out. If you have an immersion blender, this recipe is even easier. Not a fan of rye bread? Just make plain croutons.
Ingredients:
For soup: 4 medium sweet potatoes 2 large onions, thinly sliced 3 tablespoons unsalted butter Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 3 cloves garlic 8 ounces Canadian bacon, chopped 2 medium celery stalks plus 1/4 cup chopped celery leaves 5 cups chicken stock 1/2 to 1 chipotle in adobo sauce with 1 tbsp adobo sauce For croutons: 2 slices rye bread 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 2 pressed garlic cloves 1/2 tsp sweet paprika 1/8 tsp kosher salt
Preparation:
Cook sweet potatoes until tender (400° for 60- 75 minutes).
Cook onions in 2 tablespoons melted butter over medium-low for about 5 minutes or until soft. Remove 1 cup onions from the pan, season with salt and pepper and set aside. Add 1 tablespoon pressed garlic to the pan and cook for about a minute. Transfer this onion-garlic mixture to a blender and set aside.
In 1 tablespoon melted butter, brown chopped Canadian bacon and chopped celery for about 5 minutes and set aside.
Scoop out the flesh of the sweet potatoes and add to the blender along with 2 cups chicken stock, chipotle and adobo sauce. Blend until pureed, adding more chicken stock, if necessary to thin mixture enough to blend.
Transfer the soup to the saucepan with the bacon and celery. Add 3 cups more chicken stock and bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to low and simmer 3 minutes. Top with chopped celery leaves, reserved onions, and garlic rye croutons (recipe below).
Croutons:
Remove crusts from bread and cut into 3/4 inch squares. Mix other ingredients and toss the bread in this mixture until evenly coated. Spread croutons on baking sheet and toast for 15-20 minutes at 300° until beginning to brown.