Sweet Potato and Chorizo Soup from Jamie Oliver

I decided to try making my first Jamie Oliver soup. I chose this one because I have a sweet potato soup recipe that I make quite often that I love. That one uses thai flavours and this one seemed to work on a similar sweet potato and spice formula so I thought it would be flavours I like.

Here are my ingredients.  See those veggies - this picture is deceiving because it doesn't look like that many veggies until you start chopping!

I put my broth on to boil - it was a bit premature. I ended up adding water as I thought I was boiling off too much of the broth as I chopped all those veggies!

Let the chopping begin! Basically you take all the ingredients other than the broth and spices and chop, chop, chop.

Chop, chop, chop! I'm not the speediest chopper (I'm no professional chef) but I'm not a super beginner either. It took me about 40 minutes to wash, chop (and peel when necessary) the veggies. However, the chopping is all you need to do really for this recipe so it is very easy for a beginner cook.

Once chopped you throw it all in your soup pot with the spices and oil and cook it down.

Here it is cooked down.

Then you add your boiling broth and simmer until the veggies are tender. I liked the step of boiling the broth - it makes it so fast. Most recipes you add the broth cold and then have to bring the whole thing to a boil.

Here is the soup after simmering.

Then we take our blender and blend. I have to say - the idea of blending meat is odd to me. It just seems wrong.

Here is the final soup - it smelled great!

I liked this soup a lot. The subtle heat from the chorizo was nice and built as I ate - it was delicious.

I froze a number of portions of this soup as it doesn't have any dairy or anything that would not take well to freezing. I've had this twice at work since I made it and I've had people comment on how good it smells.

I did find that a few times I got a chunk of fat from the chorizo that turned me off. Full disclosure - I was a vegetarian for almost ten years and I'm pretty picky about meat. I think I would love to put this through a fine mesh strainer so I still get all the flavour and have it just that bit smoother.

Jamie Oliver's Sweet Potato and Chorizo Soup

• 1 ¾ quarts chicken stock
  
• olive oil
  
• 2 large carrots, peeled
  
• 2 celery stalks, sliced evenly
  
• 2 medium onions, peeled and rough chopped
  
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
  
• 1 ¾ pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and rough chopped
  
• 7 ounces chorizo sausage, sliced
  
• small bunch fresh parsley, fine chopped
  
• 1 heaped teaspoon Madras curry powder
  
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  
• 1 fresh red chile, fine diced
  

1. Bring the stock to boil in a saucepan. Let it simmer on the back burner.
   
2. Bring a large pot to medium-high heat. Pour in the olive oil. Put all the chopped and sliced foods (including the chorizo) into the hot oil.  Add the curry powder and mix it all up.
   
3. Cook until the carrots have softened but are not falling apart and the onions have turned a little golden, about 10 minutes.
   
4. Pour in the hot stock. Give the soup a stir and let it come to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the soup until the sweet potato is cooked through, about 10 minutes.
   
5. Season the soup with salt and pepper. Stir. Taste. Season it to your taste.
   
6. Blend the soup with an immersion blender (easiest) or by pouring it into a large blender or food processor.
   
7. Top with a bit of diced chile and serve.