Guest Recipe: Holly's Sweet Potato and Chorizo Soup

When the colder nights start to draw in, there’s nothing I love more than a hearty soup - especially the ones that require minimal efforts like this sweet potato and chorizo one.

Perfect for after-work or even school dinners, this soup is easy to make with minimal effort.

You can let it cook whilst you settle down for the night and once it's done, you can enjoy it with some crusty bread. It’s great for everyone and will leave you feeling cosy inside and well-fed – perfect for the winter months.

• Prep Time: 10 min
• Cook Time: 50 min
• Total Time: 1 hr

Serves: 2 servings

Category: Soups, Stews & Casseroles

Ingredients

• 1 carrot
• 1 leek
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 onion
• 3 vegetable stock cubes
• 4 garlic cloves
• 3 small / 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 100g chorizo
• 50ml single soya cream (optional)
• 1L boiling water

Method

1. Before you start prepping your ingredients, wash your root vegetables to ensure that they are clean and ready to use.
2. In a big cooking pot you will need to add 2-3 tablespoons of oil and turn the heat to medium.
3. Peel the carrot and sweet potato to remove the outer skin. Remove the head and bud of the leek and celery. Once this is done, remove the skins from the onion and chop off the ends of the onion. This will help your eyes not to sting when chopping. Finally, remove the skins from the garlic cloves.
4. Once you have removed all skins from vegetables and garlic, use a sharp knife to chop the vegetables into small pieces.
5. Once the pot has come up to heat, add the chopped ingredients into the pot and cook on medium-high heat for 10 minutes or until the onions are soft and translucent.
6. Whilst the vegetables soften in the pot, add the vegetable stock cubes to 1 litre of boiling water.
7. As the vegetable stock dissolves, chop the chorizo into small cubes and add to the pot.
8. When the onions are translucent, add the vegetable stock to your pot and give it a stir to combine.
9. Season the mixture with salt and pepper and feel free to add any others you like. Now you can place a lid on the pot and let this bubble away for 20-30 minutes until you can feel everything is soft.
10. When you can pierce the ingredients with a knife with no resistance, take the pan off the heat. Then, using a blender or hand blender, blend the mixture until smooth. If you want a creamy soup, add some single cream to the mix.
11. Once the soup is combined, season to taste. Serve and enjoy.

This recipe is primarily vegetarian except for the chorizo. To make this recipe fully vegetarian, remove the chorizo and add a teaspoon of paprika to get a similar flavour. To make this recipe entirely plant-based, use plant-based single soya and remove the
chorizo.

Holly, a writer from the North West now living in London, finds new experiences to write about. She has an undergraduate degree in creative writing and English literature so you’ll never find her too far away from a book to get lost in and a pen to jot down ideas for her next piece. When she isn’t writing about fantastical lands and romance she likes to write about food, the latest popular films, tv & books, and her love of pop culture.