Sweet Potato Ginger soup w/ Peanut

I woke up early this morning to make today's soup to take to Bulls Head Meeting and it was -3F outside. While I was cooking a red-shouldered hawk was perched outside the window and the ice on the trees across the Hudson river was tinged pink in the morning sun. Ice covered the river completely until an ice breaker came through later in the day.

As soon as the soup was done, I ate some of it steaming hot for breakfast. It was savory and sweet. The aroma is bright with ginger and I garnished my bowl with some lemon zest, crispy fried onions, and chopped roasted peanuts. When it's this cold, soup is my favorite thing to eat. This is the third soup I've made this week!

I started by peeling and mincing about 3 Tbs of fresh ginger and peeling and dicing a medium-sized onion. I heated a little olive oil in the bottom of my soup pot and sauteed them until the onions were translucent. Then I added 2 cups of apple juice and let everything simmer while I prepared the sweet potatoes.


I peeled and cut into chunks a whole bunch of sweet potatoes. I lost count, but I think it was about 6 big ones. I rinsed them and added them to the pot with enough water to cover liberally. I let them simmer until tender.

While simmering, I seasoned the soup with spices. I'm guessing at the quantities here, because I didn't measure anything, but tasted it as I went along: 1.5 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp nutmeg, .5 tsp cloves, 1 tsp allspice, 2 tsp black pepper, .5 tsp vanilla extract, salt to taste.

When the sweet potatoes were tender, I ran upstairs & borrowed my landlady's immersion blender. I blended the soup until it was nice and smooth and then stirred in about 3 Tbs creamy peanut butter. I wanted the peanut butter to add a little richness and flavor but not overpower the ginger and spices, so I added a little at a time and tasted until I got it right. I finished the soup with a generous squeeze of lemon juice.