Happy New Ho

What better way to start the New Year than with an entry for this month's Ho Down! This month is being hosted by Christie, better known in the ho circle as Milky Lee, over at Fig & Cherry. Me I couldn't wait to join in!

HP has been sick with a miserable cold (or is it that he has a cold & acts miserable...) so I decided that a little zip & a little soup were in order. Unfortunately, I hadn't been to the market since before Christmas, so I went with my frugal nature & love of reinventing leftovers and came up with

Mandy Lynn's Curried Sweet Potato Soup.

I have been eying my leftover Parmesan Sweet Potato Gratin from Thanksgiving for a while. I loved the savory parmesan & rosemary with the sweet of the potatoes and have been looking for an excuse to defrost them The only problem was that I knew that the thin slices wouldn't defrost into the tender slices I started out with and probably wouldn't be as crisp or even as sliced. At first I thought that I would mash them up & serve them that way, but the potatoes I found, which were red skinned and white fleshed, were a different kind of sweet than the orange fleshed cousins and I didn't think I could convince the family to eat them mashed. So I did what any good Mom does. I hid them. I pulled a few more leftovers out of the fridge, including my holiday goat cheese dip with caramelized onions, and some of my frozen stock. I threw it into a pot & added a few secret ingredients. MMMM, maybe it shouldn't be a secret after all, so I'll give you what I made, & try to translate into something you can do as well (without benefits of my leftovers). I know that I plan to make this dish again, so let's give a whirl.

I started with about 1 1/2 pounds of sliced red skinned sweet potatoes. (The closest image I could find was this one over at flickr for a red skinned white sweet potato) Since mine was "gratined" I would say to slice thin, in a large pot, poach in a hearty chicken stock with some fresh rosemary, salt & pepper, when they are tender, add about 2 1/2 ounces of Parmesan cheese and 1/4 cup of light cream. Don't drain. Here are my potatoes post defrost, pre everything else

To my already gratined, slightly mushed potatoes I added 1 1/2 cups of dark chicken stock, about 3/4 of a cup of goat cheese and some caramelized onions. (about 1/3 - 1/2 cup).
Next add 3 Tablespoons of Madras Curry, a teaspoon of salt and, if you can find it, 2 teaspoons Fried Garlic. Simmer until all ingredients are warm & tender, then puree with an immersion blender. (You can also allow this to cool and puree in a regular blender-the result will be smoother, but be very careful when blending hot soups.)

At this point, I added another 1 1/2 cups of stock to thin it, and whipped that in with the immersion as well, (for a little more exotic taste, you can use a cup or so of coconut milk to thin it; I thought about it, but didn't want to open a can of something new). When starting this from scratch, add 1/2 a cup of broth at a time until you get the desired consistency. Just before serving, I stirred in 1/3 cup of plain yogurt. This is a super rich soup, add a piece of bread and you are set to go out and brave the elements or just sit and watch snow fall. It warms you down to your toes and has helped me fight off the terrible cold that HP keeps trying to give me.

A sprinkle of chili powder on top gives the perfect finish