While I was pregnant with young Master C, I took a trip to Australia and spent some quality time with family and friends. During this holiday I took the chance to catch up with the lovely teachers I completed my MTeach qualification with. We decided to meet in Surry Hills at a lovely cafe. I, underestimating my fitness, decided to walk the considerable distance from the station. You see, I hadn’t been doing much walking since getting pregnant. Turns out when you’re 6 months pregnant, a 15 minute walk turns into a much longer marathon.

As I was approaching the cafe, the first thing I saw was ‘sweet potato soup with capsicum and chorizo’. You can’t imagine how good it sounded. When the soup turned up, there was lovely smooth orange sweet potato with floating bits of capsicum and chorizo. I was a bit disappointed, I was expecting something combined, amalgamated….alas, it wasn’t to be. However, as I tucked in I realised I actually enjoyed the smooth sweet potato and the crispy bits of chorizo and crunchy capsicum cubes.

Since then, it’s become one of my favourite dishes.

This recipe makes heaps, so feel free to halve or quarter it. I would say this quantity would serve me and hubby for 5 meals easily (that’s 10 portions)

Ingredients

• 2 kg  (4lbs) sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 2 medium onions
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1L (1 Qt) chicken and vegetable stock
• salt to taste

To serve/ per person

• 1/4 red capsicum (pepper) diced
• 1/2  spicy sausage (e.g. chorizo, andouille, kielbasa are all great options) sausage sliced and fried till crisp
• 1 tablespoon sour cream

In a large saucepan add the butter, onions and garlic.

When the onions are soft and translucent add the sweet potatoes, stir and cover with the stock.

Place the lid on and cook until the sweet potato is soft. Once soft leave to cook and puree in a blender or simply use an immersion blender in the saucepan.

At this point this soup is perfect to freeze. Freeze in individual portions or divide up as you need. I simply line a bowl with cling wrap, place 2 cups of soup in and then  cover with wrap. When frozen I knock the blocks of soup out and keep the frozen blocks of soup in the freezer.

When you’re ready to serve place the soup back on the heat and add sufficient water to thin it to soup consistency.  This is really about personal preference. I generally prefer my soups quite thick. Add salt to taste.

Place the warm soup in a bowl and top with the crisp sausage, capsicum and sour cream. Serve while piping hot.

This is delicious with some warm sourdough bread on the side!