Sweet Potato, Miso + Turmeric Soup

I’ve reached the point in Winter where the pantry looks sadly overpopulated by roots. I'm tired of roasting. I want tender green things. English peas. Watercress. Asparagus. I’m missing color and craving simplicity. Turmeric to settle the stomach. Ginger to warm me up. Sweet potato, somehow, never gets old.

Steamed and split open like a baked potato, topped with yogurt, or mashed and thinned with stock into soup. Soups like this. At some point I’ll tell you about my deep love of what pretty much amounts to baby food. Some days chewing seems like too much work.

Once a week I try to “take out the trash” in the fridge or pantry, and usually that trash becomes soup for next week’s lunches. Trash soup! (Don’t tell anyone I call it this, mmkay?) Shouldn’t surprise anyone it’s out of these happy accidents that I end up stumbling on some really great finds. Those currently sad looking sweet potatoes will transform into velvet on the stove. Why not throw in some parsnips and carrots while you're at it? Ginger enlivens anything you add it to. Don’t be shy with it. Turmeric will give it the depth and color we need this time of year. Miso will lend it richness. 

Highly recommend soups like this for days where you maybe went a little overboard with friends the night before.

Sweet Potato, Miso + Turmeric Soup

Ingredients:

3 large sweet potatoes
2 medium parsnips
1 large carrot
1 large yellow onion
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and finely minced
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp. turmeric
2 Tbs. white miso
1 Tbs olive oil, with more to serve
1 quart of chicken or vegetable stock
1 Tbs. Greek Yogurt
Pinch of Urfa Biber or Aleppo Pepper

Directions: 

1. Peel the sweet potatoes, parsnips and carrot and chop them into roughly 2 inch pieces.
2. Chop the onion and mince the garlic cloves. Peel the ginger and finely mince it or grate it on a microplane.
3. On medium heat in a large, heavy bottomed pot, add the olive oil. Add to this the onion and sweat it until it begins to soften and look a little translucent. This will take about 5 minutes. Now toss in the garlic and ginger, stirring until fragrant but not browning, about 1 minute more.
4. Add turmeric to the pot and stir. You want to make sure you take out any “rawness” that dried turmeric can take on, so stir well for about 1-2 minutes. Again—you don’t want any of this to brown at this point. You want this soup to be a mellow affair.
5. When the onion mixture starts to look more like a paste, add the sweet potatoes, parsnips and carrot. Stir to incorporate. Now add the chicken stock to the pan and bring to a gentle boil.
6. Simmer the soup on low heat for 30 minutes, until all the vegetables are very tender. Add to this the miso and stir to dissolve. 
7. Using an immersion blender, purée the soup til smooth.
8. Serve with a dollop of greek yogurt and some Urfa Biber or Aleppo Pepper flakes on top.

Serves 4.