Sweet Potato and Swiss Chard Soup with Curried Coconut Milk

Adapted from: Stitch and Boots, serves 6-8
Date made: 3/20/2012

1 medium onion, diced
1 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes, chopped in 1-in pieces*
1 large bunch of kale, stems separated from leaves, each cut into 1-in pieces*
1 quart of water
1 pint of coconut milk
2 Tbsp canola oil
1″ piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. whole cumin seeds, ground or crushed
1 tsp. whole coriander seeds, ground or crushed
1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
Salt, to taste
Cooked white rice, optional

In a soup pot on medium heat, saute the onions in the olive oil until they sweat, about 5-10 minutes.  Add Swiss chard stems, garlic, and ginger.
Cook for a couple of minutes with the onions, stirring frequently, then add the water to the pot and turn the heat up until it comes to a boil.
Lower heat to medium-low, add the sweet potatoes, coriander, cumin, pepper, and turmeric, and cover the pot.
Simmer until sweet potatoes are tender, about 15-20 minutes.  Then add Swiss chard leaves, stir well and cover.
Cook until the kale is well-cooked, about five minutes.  Serve with white rice.

Probably would flip-flop the quantities of water vs. coconut milk next time, but otherwise a pretty tasty and filling dish.

Swiss Chard and Sweet Potato Gratin

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, serves 4-6 (entree) or 8-10 (side dish)
Date made: 3/12/2012


1/4 cup butter
1 small onion, diced
2 lbs Swiss chard, leaves and stems separated, cut into 1-inch pieces*
Pinch of ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups heavy cream or whole milk*
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tablespoons flour
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch thick rounds*
1/2 Tbsp. dried Italian parsley
1/2 Tbsp. dried ground thyme
Fine sea salt
Black pepper
1 1/4 cups grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400°F, and grease a 9×13 baking dish. 

Saute onion in 2 tablespoons butter in a large pot over medium-low heat, stirring until softened. Add chard stems, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste.
Cook, stirring, until vegetables are tender but not browned, about 8 minutes
Increase heat to medium-high and add chard leaves.  Cook, while stirring, until all greens are wilted.

Combine cream or milk and garlic powder in small saucepan.
Bring to simmer and keep warm.
Melt two tablespoons butter in a medium heavy saucepan over medium heat.
Stir in flour, and whisk for one minute.  Slowly whisk in warm cream/milk and boil while whisking for one minute.  Season sauce with salt and pepper.

Spread half of sweet potatoes in the baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, a quarter of the herbs and a 1/4 cup of the cheese.
Repeat with half of the greens mixture, and sprinkle salt, pepper, a quarter of the herbs and 1/4 cup of the cheese over it.
Pour half of the sauce over the first two layers then continue with the remaining sweet potatoes, more salt, pepper, herbs and cheese and then the remaining greens, salt, pepper and herbs.
Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the gratin, and sprinkle with the last 1/4 cup of cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes.  Uncover and then bake for another 30 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly and the sweet potatoes are fork tender.
Broil for about 5 minutes to give the surface a golden color (optional), and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I had sweet potatoes and swiss chard left from last week's Hollygrove box, so I gave Jason a list of 3 or 4 recipes to choose from to use the ingredients.  Luckily, we had all the ingredients for the one that he picked!  Taking advantage of what we had in our refrigerator, for the sauce I used 1 cup whole milk and 1/2 cup buttermilk (leftover from all the baking I've done the last couple weeks!).

I found that this recipe was a little labor intensive, like a lasagna, but it turned out super tasty.  Jason doesn't really like the sweetness of sweet potatoes, I think that the herbs and seasonings helped cancel that out since it was no sweeter than baked or roasted carrots.  I served it over some local brown rice to eat as an entree.

Turnip Sweet Potato Gratin

Adapted from The Chubby Vegetarian, serves 2
Date made: 4/17/2011

3 small sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced*

5 small turnips, peeled and thinly sliced*

2 oz Parmesan cheese

1 egg

1/4 c milk*

1 tsp dried thyme

2 cloves garlic

salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 9-in loaf pan and start layering vegetables, alternating sweet potatoes and turnips between layers.

Sprinkle a little salt and pepper in every other layer.

Blend remaining ingredients in food processor until smooth. Pour mixture evenly over root vegetables. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.

Uncover, drizzle with olive oil, and bake a 15 minutes longer.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Poblano Soup

Adapted from Mii amo Spa, serves 6
Date made: 3/20/2011

2 lbs sweet potatoes*
3 large green onions (or 5 small), chopped, white parts only*
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 poblano pepper, deseeded and diced
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
4-6 c vegetable broth
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

optional garnish:
3/4 c low fat sour cream
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp maple syrup

Peel sweet potatoes and cut into half-in cubes.
Toss with 1 Tbsp oil, salt, and pepper.
Roast in pre-heated 375-degree oven until for tender and lightly browned, about 25 minutes.  Heat remaining oil in large sauce pot over medium.
Add onion, garlic, and pepper.  Sweat over medium heat for minutes, occasionally stirring.  Add sweet potatoes, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.
Sweat another 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add about 4 cups of broth and simmer for 10 minutes.  Blend will with immersion blender or standard blender.
(If using standard, return to pot when complete).
Return to simmer, adjust consistency with remaining broth.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Optional garnish: combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix, and add dollop to each soup serving.


I REALLY LIKE THIS SOUP!  Thanks to Mary Chapman for the recipe!

I'm trying to follow the mantra of "use what you have", so I replaced the yellow onion from the original recipe with the white parts of the green onion and allspice with the cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, adapted from ehow.  I neglected the coriander since Google searches yielded several recommendation to not attempt to substitute coriander.  Maybe next time if I remember to get ground coriander at the grocery store.

I'm glad that I didn't cut back on the poblano pepper in order to keep the recipe in proportion because I really like the hint of spice in the soup.  If I had cut back to a half of a pepper or two small peppers, I don't think it would have been strong enough.  Since I don't have any sour cream, I also opted out of the garnish, but the maple syrup addition sounds really good!

Yum, yum, yum -- I love to cook!

Tomato Sweet Potato Soup

Adapted from Simply in Season, serves 4-6
Date made: 1/28/2011

1 medium onion, chopped
3 medium-small sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped*
4 c vegetable broth
1 c water
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
1/4 tsp ground pepper
3/4 c orange juice

Saute onion in oil in soup pot until translucent.  Add sweet potatoes, broth, and water, and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until sweet potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in tomatoes with juice and pepper.  Puree until smooth and return to soup pot.
Add orange juice, heat gently until hot, and serve.

My sweet potatoes were a little on the small side so if I had to do it again, I'd cut back on either the tomatoes or the orange juice or add another sweet potato to cut the acidity.  The texture is interesting since it has a lot of the acid, but a hint of that starchy, almost creamy finish from the potatoes.  Knowing this, next time I might add a little cream or half-and-half instead of the cup of water.