Soup is one of my favorite foods, and one of my culinary specialties.
I love making the base from fresh ingredients which adds to the overall depth of flavor in the finished dish.
For this fresh bowl of soup, we began with roasting peppers and tomatoes over an open flamed fire.
We blistered the skins, put them in a lidded container to let them sweat,
then removed the skins to use in the broth with the juice from the peppers.
(We sliced the peppers into strips to save for sandwiches,
omelettes and the like for a future use.)
We blended the tomatoes to a smooth consistency, and used the roasted, blended tomatoes and the pepper broth as our soup base.
We blended in chopped fresh garlic, homegrown chives and lemon balm, as well as some spicy diced ginger.
We sauteed two different varieties of sweet potatoes, chopped onion and jalapenos over the flame of our handmade rocket stove (we built ourselves out of clay, sand, straw and water from our land--fueled with wood saved from the landfill).
We added cumin, coriander, cilantro, cayenne, cinnamon, salt and pepper to deepen the earthy spice.
We cooked them down adding just a little smidge of water to keep their moisture.
We blended together til smooth the sweet potato mixture and our roasted pepper/tomato broth.
We added enough grapeseed oil to cover the bottom of the pan, and when it was hot, we poured in the soup to sizzle and thicken.
We served our guests this hot bowl of homemade soup garnished with chives, fresh raw garlic and ginger, chopped lemon balm, a squeeze of lime, and for those who weren't vegan, added a dollop of thick sour cream.
We served the soup with grilled, garlicy buttered toast points.
Our guests came back for more, and requested another meal of the same.
Sweet success!
