It's that time of year, folks. My favorite time of year. The time of year where everything starts to go orange. Where one day you're wearing a light cotton tee and above-the-knee shorts and the next day it's wool pea coats and combat boots.
I love when the temperature drops. Something about feeling cozy at home under a blanket with a stew on the stove, snuggling up with your favorite animated film and a pair of fuzzy socks.
But this year is different. I don't have the pleasure of looking forward to getting home and changing into my jammies, because I'm already working from home and wearing a polo over my jammies.
Also, the addition of having a baby to care for makes it difficult to slow down in the evenings -- he's at the point where he spends most of his time awake, crawling, throwing things, putting anything and everything into his mouth, trying to walk... it's a lot to keep up with. I love the bugger, but he runs me dry pretty quick. If anything, he's a solid reminder of how out of shape I am and how terrible I am at staying consistent with fitness goals -- I started quarantine every morning waking up and doing a 45-minute workout regime; I abandoned that about a month in.
Thankfully, there are some excuses during the day to get that warm and cozy feeling, the most obvious one being dinner. That's why I created this sweet potato and apple soup: a silky sweet and slightly spiced soup for slow slurping in your sweatpants. And through the power of multitasking (re: getting the rest of the soup going while the sweet potatoes roast), this entire soup comes together in roughly an hour. That's relatively quick for a soup, which usually simmers for hours to develop flavor, but by cutting and roasting the sweet potatoes cut side down, you're drawing out those natural sugars and caramelizing them against the flat surface, which adds for extra toasty goodness. Top it with some sausage nuggets, creamy tangy goat cheese, and crunchy seeds, and you've got the easiest and gourmet-iest soup for dinner.
This is the soup for staying inside on a blustery day. It looks and tastes like autumn, and wraps you in a warm hug so you can feel perfectly cozy in time to watch a terrible movie on the couch... until your child causes mischief.
With soup and squashed serenity,
~c.j.
SWEET POTATO APPLE SOUP
PREP TIME: 10 mins
ACTIVE COOK TIME: 20 mins
INACTIVE COOK TIME: 45 mins
TOTAL COOK TIME: roughly 1 hr (thanks to multitasking!)
YIELD: 8-12 servings
INGREDIENTS
4-5 lb sweet potatoes (butternut squash would also be awesome - don't forget to remove the seeds before roasting)
extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt
cracked black pepper
1 lb. mild Italian sausage, casings removed
2 medium onions, chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 tsp minced ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
6 sprigs fresh thyme, tied together with kitchen twine
3 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped (recommended: Pink Lady or Granny Smith)
1 lemon, juiced
sunflower seeds, for garnish (you could also use pumpkin seeds/pepitas)
goat cheese crumbles, for garnish (you could also use feta or a dollop of sour cream)
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil. Halve the sweet potatoes lengthwise. Brush the cut sides with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and place cut side down on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until potatoes are very tender and cut sides are partially caramelized, about 30-45 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat about 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook until opaque, breaking up into bite-size chunks with a wooden spoon, about 5-7 minutes. Remove sausage and set aside. Add onions, carrots, and celery to pot, season with salt and pepper, and cook in reserved fat stirring occasionally until beginning to soften and onions go translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger, and cook stirring constantly 1 full minute. Add the cinnamon and cook, stirring constantly 30 seconds. Add the thyme, apples, and 6 cups water. Turn the heat up to high, and bring to a boil uncovered. Once a boil has reached, reduce the heat to low, cover, and allow to simmer until apples are very tender, about 15 minutes.
When potatoes are done, remove from the oven and place in a large bowl. Cover the bowl in foil or plastic wrap and allow to sit until cool enough to handle (the steam will allow the potato skins to peel off easier). Peel the skins off the sweet potatoes with a fork or your hands. Add the sweet potatoes to the pot, stir, and allow to simmer, covered, an additional 5 minutes.
Remove the thyme bundle and discard. Remove the soup from the heat. Using an immersion blender, carefully blend the soup until smooth and homogenous, making sure to get all the big chunks blended. (If you do not have an immersion blender, use a standard pitcher blender and carefully work in batches.) Taste for seasoning, and add additional salt and pepper if needed.
Just before serving, stir in lemon juice. Serve in bowls, and top with reserved sausage, sunflower seeds, goat cheese, and cracked black pepper.
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