Sweet Potato Corn Chowder

 This recipe will rock your soup world. My family loves a good creamy soup but they usually contain gallons of cream and lots of flour for thickening. I created this recipe using only pureed sweet potatoes to thicken it and is completely delicious. It will look like you added loads of processed cheese product like many chowder recipes call for, but 'oh my delicious' its just veggies! When I first made this my family said "This is amazing, what is in this? It looks and tastes like a cheesy soup, but knowing you, that is probably the furthest thing from the case." This sweet potato base is now my go to for any cream or cheese based soups. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

To begin take a nice orange sweet potato and peel it.

* Tip in your local USA grocery store "sweet potatoes" are sometimes labeled yams. America is strange with their sweet potato labels since yams are actually different then sweet potatoes, but that's a different story.

Chop the sweet potato into cubes toss into a pan with one cup of water, cover, and cook on medium heat until nice and tender.

While your sweet potato is cooking start working on the rest of the soup. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a pot. Add a chopped onion and 2 cloves of minced garlic and cook until the onions are fragrant and tender.

Peel and cube two carrots and about 4-5 gold or red potatoes (best) or 2 russet potatoes (will work in a bind) and add to the pot.

 Add 4-5 cups of veggie or chicken broth. You really only want the veggies barely covered by the broth so the soup does not turn out too thin. Cover and let cook on medium-low for roughly 20 minutes until the carrots and potatoes are tender.

Now back to the sweet potatoes:

When the sweet potatoes are very soft, drain the water and place sweet potatoes in a blender or food processor.

Add 1/2 cup of cream (soy, coconut, dairy, whichever cream you desire) and blend until a thick smooth puree. If you are using dairy, any fat content of milk will do, but keep in mind that the higher the fat content, the thicker and creamier consistency you will achieve. I would *highly* recommend heavy cream, or half and half. If you are going the non-dairy route I would recommend using coconut cream or coconut milk since it's the thicker and creamier option if going the non dairy route.

This is your "cheesy" and delicious soup base. Place to the side until the veggies in your soup are nice and tender.

When the soup veggies are tender add 1 can of corn drained, or 2 cups of frozen corn. Along with 1-2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of black pepper, 1/2 tsp of paprika*, and 1/2 tablespoon of parsley.The key to a good soup is layers of flavor. You never want a soup that is only seasoned with salt, you want flavor folks, and lots if it.
 * tip if you don't have paprika use chili powder as a substitute. Paprika is made from a sweet pepper while chili powder is made from a spicy pepper, the flavor is a little different but adds a nice depth of flavor to the soup.

Stir in your sweet potato cream base

Oh my "cheesy" delicious. It's a lick-the-remains-out-of-your-bowl-and-tray-delicious. This *almost* 2 year old agrees:

Sweet Potato Corn Chowder

Serves 6-8

1 sweet potato
4-6 red or gold potatoes or 2 russet potatoes, peeled & cubed
2-3 carrots, peeled and cubed
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
4-5 C. veggie or chicken broth
1 can of drained corn or 2 C of frozen corn
1/2 C. cream (dairy, soy, or coconut)
1 T. olive oil
1-2 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper
1/2 t. paprika (or chili powder)
1/2 T. parsley

Peel and chop the sweet potato. Put in a pan with 1 cup of water, cover and cook on medium heat until tender. Heat the olive oil in a pot and add the onions and garlic. Cook until the onions are fragrant 2-3 minutes. Add the carrots and potatoes. Add the broth of choice, cover, and cook on medium-low until the vegetables are tender, around 20 minutes.When the sweet potatoes are very soft, drain the water and place sweet potatoes in a blender. Add the cream of choice to the blender and blend into a thick smooth puree. Add the corn to soup, if using frozen corn cook in the soup until the corn is heated through. Add salt, black pepper, paprika, and parsley. Add the sweet potato puree and stir until combined. Serve warm and enjoy

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