Sweet Potato Soup

I found this recipe looking for a vegetarian soup for my friends at work who lean towards that nutrition approach. This recipe is from SimplyRecipes which is an excellent location for soup recipes.

This is a simple recipe with a minimum number of ingredients and prep time. The preparation of this recipe is one that really benefits from having an immersion blender. The expense of a good immersion blender is well worth it compared to the the hassle of ladling from the pot to a blender and back again. Berdie gave me this immersion blender as a gift a couple of years ago and it is one of my favorite tools.

A couple of tips I learned from making this soup a couple of times. The first is to be sure you remove the cinnamon stick before you blend the soup. My first time making the soup I forgot about the stick until after I began eating a bowl and kept coming across these small pieces of woody stuff in each spoonful. I finally figured out what I had done and had to strain the whole pot to remove the cinnamon. The second tip is to go very easy on the nutmeg. I was very loose with my 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg and ended up with too much in the soup and the taste overwhelmed everything. A little nutmeg goes a long way. Be sure you use whole nutmeg and grate your own. Ground nutmeg loses its freshness quickly so whole nutmeg and a fine grater is the way to go.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons of butter
1.5 cups of chopped onion
2 small celery stalks, chopped
1 medium leek, chopped, white and pale green parts only
1 large garlic clover, chopped
1.5 pounds of yams, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces, about 5 cups
4 cups of vegetable broth
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg, be careful here, less is more
1.5 cups of half & half
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
Leafy tops of celery stalks, chopped

METHOD

1. Melt the butter in a large soup pot
2. Over medium high heat add the chopped onion and sauté for 5 minutes
3. Add chopped celery and leeks, sauté for another 5 minutes
4. Add the garlic and sauté for 2 more minutes
5. Add the sweet potatoes, stock, cinnamon stick, and nutmeg.
6. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes
7. REMOVE the cinnamon stick, REMOVE the cinnamon stick
8. Puree the soup either with an immersion blender or by transferring to a container blender. If you use a container blender be sure to allow for the heat to ventilate through the lid. Return the now pureed soup to the pot if you used a container blender
9. To the soup in the pot add the half & half and maple syrup.
10. Stir over medium heat to blend and heat through
11. Season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste
12. Serve with chopped celery tops