Apple and Sweet Potato Soup

It was this post that set me off about a year ago. Those beautifully crisp apple slices were the thing that grabbed my attention, and then of course reading through the ingredient list piqued my interest even further. Apples in soup? Hmmmm. Yep, that Nina sure knows how to make the little people (that'd be me) sit up and take notice.

Alas, the little people (ie me) is not only easy to excite, but are also procrastinators of note, which is why it took me a full year to actually act on that original impulse. Yeah I know, bad bad blogger. But in my defense, I am at least (at a snail's pace) trying to whittle away at the large pile of "recipes-to-try". Thank goodness it's a  virtual pile, otherwise I would've been engulfed in the thing by now. I'm telling you, my delicious corner is an explosion waiting to happen. Don't say I didn't warn you. You went ahead and clicked on that link didn't you? Yeah, I also never heed warnings. 

But wait, we were talking about apples weren't we? And soup. I had to add sweet potatoes. Because ... uh, I like 'em and they're in season and there are few things more perfect in soup than sweet potato. You heard it here first. You can thank me later. Added a few crumbled strips of crispy fried bacon (thank you bacon & banana sandwich leftovers!) as garnish along with some freshly diced sweetly-sour Granny Smiths and dinner was born. And it was gooooood. And if you don't believe me, well then you are clearly unaware of the fantastic combo that pork and apples make. Excellent stuff, I'm telling ya.

I'm submitting this to the Monthly Mingle for June - Apple Affection, hosted by Nina and masterminded by Meeta.

Apple and Sweet Potato Soup
A Creative Pot original (inspired by Roasted Apple & Sweet Onion Soup)
Serves 4 - 6

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 allspice berries
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
4 Granny Smith apples, cored and roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup milk
salt, to taste
roughly 125g streaky bacon, crisped in a hot oven
1 Granny Smith apple, finely chopped (optional)

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onions, sauteeing until softened and glazed looking. Add allspice, sweet potatoes and apples, along with vegetable stock and bring to the boil.
2. Cook over low heat, semi-covered until the potatoes are soft, then using a stick blender, puree the soup. 
3. Stir through milk, enough water to ensure the consistency you prefer (more water = thinner consistency) and add salt to taste. 
4. Ladle into soup bowls, crumble bacon over the top and scatter with chopped apple. Serve with toast rectangles.


This dish can easily be made vegetarian by leaving out the crispy fried bacon and replacing with croutons. Although in that case I'd encourage garlic-y, cheesy croutons. You have to get your kicks somewhere, right?