Description
With sweet apples, hearty sweet potatoes and lots of ginger, this soup is a wonderfully satisfying warm-me-up. Low-fat, gluten-free and vegan-friendly, it makes the perfect dish for serving company or taking to a pot luck.
Ingredients
- 1lb sweet potatoes (about 2) peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
- 1/2lb baby-cut carrots
- 1 large apple (about 8 ounces; see Apple Notes below), unpeeled, cored and cut into 1-inch chunks
- 5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1– to 2-inch-long piece ginger, peeled and cut into medium chunks (see Note below)
- 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable stock
- 1/2 cup fresh apple cider
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. In a medium bowl, toss the sweet potato, carrots, and apple with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, 1 teaspoon of the kosher salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper. Arrange on a foil-lined sheet pan (shiny side up) and roast until tender, about 30 minutes. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the pot and set over medium-high heat. Add the onion, ginger, garlic, bay leaf, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cook until the onions just begin to turn golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the roasted vegetables, broth, and cider. Stir and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Remove the bay leaf from the pot and use an immersion blender or regular blender to purée the soup until smooth. If using a regular blender, process the soup in three batches to avoid splattering hot liquid. Return the puréed soup to the pot, taste for seasoning, and serve.
Notes
Apple Notes: Here’s a rare case (at least in this book) where you can use pretty much any apple variety and have this soup come out beautifully. However, a sweeter apple is ideal. [Blogger’s note: I used Honeycrisp.]
Note: You can adjust the amount of ginger to your taste, depending on whether or not you like a lot of spice. I generally use a 1 1/2-inch-long piece that’s a bit wider than my thumb, and the result is identifiably gingery, though not overwhelmingly so.
This recipe is published with permission from The Apple Lover’s Cookbook by Amy Traverson (W.W. Norton, 2011)