Sunday supper

Sunday supper this week was Nat's sweet potato and carrot soup with James' bacon, scallion, and cheddar cornbread muffins.  Two great recipes from two great friends.  The homebrew credit goes to Mike, brewer extraordinaire.

Nat's Sweet Potato Soup

This soup can be made more or less spicy.  Today's batch had double the ginger, an extra clove of garlic, fresh ground black pepper and a 1/4 tsp cayenne instead of a pinch.  It had a nice kick to it.

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed (1 cm)
2 carrots, chopped
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced or crushed
1 tbsp ginger, minced or grated
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cumin
pinch cayenne pepper
4 cups veggie or chicken stock

Prepare veggies.  Heat some olive oil in your soup pot.  Saute the onion til softened and translucent; add garlic, ginger and spices and stir for 1-2 min to release flavours.

Add sweet potato and carrot; stir to coat.  Add 4 cups of stock.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce and simmer 20 minutes.  Puree in batches in a food processor or (I prefer) with an immersion blender.


Cornbread, Bacon, Cheddar and Scallion Corn Muffins
(from America's Test Kitchen cookbook via James)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
8 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup partly skimmed milk
3 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
bunch green onions/scallions, thinly sliced
2 cups old cheddar, grated (reserve 3/4 cup for topping)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
 
Adjust oven rack to middle.  Heat oven to 400 degrees F.  Coat 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

Fry bacon until crisp.  Blot.  Crumble.  Saute scallions with pepper to taste. Combine with bacon.  Transfer to a plate to cool.
 
Whisk first five ingredients in a large bowl until homogenous.  In a medium bowl, combine eggs and sugar.  Whisk in melted butter, sour cream, and milk until smooth.  Gently fold egg mixture into flour mixture with rubber spatula just until combined.  When almost combined, mix in cheddar and bacon-scallion mixture.  Be careful to not overmix.
 
Divide batter evenly into measuring cups using a scoop.  Top muffins with remaining cheddar. 
 
Bake until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean, or with crumbs on it, but not sticky batter (approx. 18 minutes).  Let muffins cool in pan for 5 minutes, then cool for 10 min on a rack before serving.  Best served warm.  Store leftovers in refrigerator and rewarm before eating.

This makes a hearty meal for a snowy November night.  I think the muffins will make for a hearty breakfast tomorrow morning as well...