When the weather was a little dreary and foggy last weekend, I decided to make myself a pot of soup which, for me, is one of the ultimate comfort foods and a perfect winter warmer.
I also find that a good bowl of hearty soup really lifts your mood.
Having just done a shop, I had lots of vegetables in, with many of the supermarkets offering them at bargain prices in the run-up to Christmas, so I decided to cook this spicy sweet potato and red pepper soup.
I have made this on many occasions and we actually had it as a course in our Christmas dinner back in 2019. I love it so much I just keep returning to it.
The recipe is a bit of a mish mash of other recipes, and has evolved over the years to this one which I believe gives the best result.
You can add as little or as much chilli as you like or you can leave it out altogether as it is delicious without.
Spicy sweet potato and red pepper soup
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion roughly chopped
- 1 celery stick roughly chopped
- 2-3 medium carrots roughly chopped
- 1 garlic clove roughly chopped
- 1 red pepper roughly chopped
- ½ tsp chilli flakes or a fresh chilli chopped
- 1 medium sweet potato cut into cubes
- 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
- 1 tsp mixed herbs
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 300mls water
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and add the onion, celery and carrots and sweat off for a few minutes until they are softening.
- Add the garlic and continue to cook for another minute or two before adding the red pepper and chilli flakes and continue cooking for another minute.
- Add the sweet potato, chopped tomatoes, mixed herbs, stock cube, water and salt and pepper to the pan.
- Bring to the boil and then turn the heat down to a low simmer.
- Simmer the soup for around 45 minutes and then blitz with a hand blender or in a food processor.
- If the soup is too thick after blending, add some water.
- Check the seasoning and adjust if necessary before serving with warmed crusty bread topped with lashings of butter.
