Caribbean Sweet Potato Soup at SF Soup Company

In all honesty, I have been feeling a little under the weather. Schlepping to work in my rain boots is not fun. Luckily, the base of my office building has Peet's coffee and SF Soup Company, so you don't even have to go out in the rain to get lunch. If I didn't diligently pack a home lunch, it would be all too easy to just run downstairs and grab a $6 or $7 container of soup served with a hunk of french bread and a pat of butter. And, if I wasn't trying to keep my lunch expenses to a minimum, I would do it too because I loooove their Caribbean Sweet Potato Soup. So, I decided to look up the ingredients on the website and make some soup.

I am sorry that I don't have a photo. Too many things were going on at once and I forgot to get a picture--I was, in fact, making a large batch of Lentil Barley Soup while creating a recipe for the Carribean Sweet Potato Soup while also cooking up some Sunday supper of oven-roasted tofu and broccoli.

The soup was a huge success! The result is a silky bisque with the delicious flavors of sweet potato and coconut milk with a last minute splash of lime juice to brighten it up. I don't often use Jamaican jerk seasoning, but for this soup, it is essential and provides a faint spicy kick. I used a blackened jerk seasoning from Cinnamon Bay Foods, which I highly recommend--its a nice blend of pepper, brown sugar, salt, cayenne, thyme, nutmeg, red pepper, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and dried green onion. You should know that a little bit goes a long way.

Oh, and it's vegan and gluten-free.

Caribbean Sweet Potato Soup

INGREDIENTS:

2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 medium sweet potatoes
1 large russet potato
1 large onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 Tbsp. ginger, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. jerk seasoning
1 can light coconut milk
2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup water
1/2 tsp. salt
3 or 4 tsp. fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp. Molasses

DIRECTIONS:

* Wash the sweet potatoes and russet potato, cut them in half and wrap in foil. Bake them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes or until it is fork tender. Remove from the oven and let cool. Peel the skins off and discard them and dice up the sweet potato and potato.
* Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Sautee the onions for 2-3 minutes.
* Add the diced celery and cook for another 5 minutes.
* Add the garlic, ginger, jerk seasoning and carrots and continue cooking, stirring occasionally.
* Add the water and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil then simmer for about 8-10 minutes until the vegetables are soft and tender.
* Add in the diced sweet potato, potato and coconut milk and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
* Use an immersion blender or blender to puree the soup until smooth and velvety.
* Add the salt, molasses and lime juice and stir.

I think I once told my friend, Chelsea, that I dreamed of having a freezer stocked with at least ten soups to choose from--maybe some corn chowder, a tomato bisque or hearty carrot soup and definitely some french onion soup.

With a couple of fresh soups in tow neatly portioned away in my freezer, I think I am ready for the week. Good thing it's a short one, because I am headed to Vegas on Thursday!