THAI SWEET POTATO SOUP

Until I moved here, I only saw two kinds of sweet potatoes in the store – the whiteish ones and the orange ones.  Last time I was in the co-op I saw Garnets, Jewel, Hannah, Japanese purple, and another one I can’t remember the name of. I looked online and saw there are many varieties that never make it into the supermarkets, at least not around here.

(Yes, I know some are yams and some are sweet potatoes but for purposes of this post I am calling them all sweet potatoes.)

I like sweet potatoes but I do not like all that marshmallow gunk that people blanket them with. Just roast them in the oven in their skins – they will be plenty sweet. If you have to do more, mash them with pineapple.

But they also make good soup. I found a similar recipe in 300 Sensational Soups and adapted it a little. This would be an elegant way to serve sweet potatoes at a formal Thanksgiving dinner, or on a cold day anytime.

THAI SWEET POTATO SOUP

• 2 pounds sweet potatoes (about two average), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 carrot, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 1 red, yellow, or orange bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 small hot red pepper, minced (optional)
• 1 piece fresh ginger, about 3 inches long, minced
• 1 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk (don’t use the low-fat, it has no taste)
• 3 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• salt, freshly ground black pepper, cayenne to taste (you might skip the cayenne if you use the hot pepper)
• 1 juicy lime
• chopped cilantro and sliced green onion

Combine all ingredients except lime, cilantro, and green onion in a pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 20-30 minutes.

Puree the soup. You can use a stick blender but it takes freaking forever. Better to let the soup cool a little, then blitz it in a blender or food processor until smooth, then return soup to the pot.

Add a good squeeze of lime juice, then taste and adjust the seasoning – more salt if needed, probably more lime juice. When it’s to your taste, add the cilantro and green onions.

PEARS AND CHEESE

I bought some beautiful Comice pears at the farmers market without a definite plan for them. They were just so luscious, shapely, and evocative of autumn that I had to get them.  Fortunately,  my friend Sharon arrived at our house with this delicious dish. She brought it as a first course, but it could work just as well as a warm salad (I suggest placing each pear half on a bed of arugula or frisée, lightly dressed with lemon juice and olive oil, toasted walnuts sprinkled over), a side to chicken, pork, ham, duck, turkey, game, or as a dessert (perhaps with a little warm real maple syrup drizzled over).  It would also be great with sausages, ham, or bacon at breakfast or brunch.

If apples is what you have on hand, treat them the same way, with blue cheese or something different (extra sharp Cheddar or very aged real Gouda comes to mind). If hot sauce isn’t your thing, try brushing the pear halves with some port, sherry, Madeira, or Marsala.

With the holidays coming up, this is just in time for an easy way to serve a lot of people.

Ingredients:

• 1 firm (not ripe) pear per person
• Gorgonzola, Roquefort, Stilton, or other blue-veined cheese
• Hot sauce of your choice (Sharon used Tabasco; I used Penzey’s Berbere spice)

Wash pears and slice in half lengthwise. Remove the core/seeds with a spoon or an apple or pear corer. (I will tell you right now, I have never seen a home kitchen with an actual pear corer. I didn’t even know they existed until high school ceramics class, back in the 1970s, where we used them for easily trimming wet clay bowls thrown on the wheel.)

Sprinkle the cored pear halves lightly with hot sauce, Berbere, port, or whatever. Then carefully place some sort of blue-veined cheese on top of the halves. I used about 1 tablespoon cheese on each half, but more is good too. Or less. Your choice.

Put cheese-topped pears in a baking dish. Bake at 350 – 375 until pears are easily pieced with a fork or knife, maybe 25 – 45 minutes. These can be made ahead and rewarmed.