Ming Tsai's Blue Ginger Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup with Bell Pepper-Bacon Salsa

We have probably about twenty cookbooks in our kitchen, and while we don’t seem to use them as much as we’d like to, we have been making it a point more and more to flip through those pages and try new things.  One of the books we love is by local celebrity chef Ming Tsai.  If you are ever in the Boston area and have a chance, we highly recommend you stop into his restaurant, Blue Ginger.  We’ve been there a couple of times, and have nothing but the utmost praise for everything we encountered.  Just a few of the dishes I can recall off the top of my head right now are: Ginger Ale (with Ginger Candy) homemade from scratch, an incredible Osso Buco, and Chocolate Chip Green Tea Mint Ice Cream (omg).  The menu rotates and changes periodically, using what’s good and in season at the time, and everything is made in-house.  The portions are not overwhelmingly large, but nor are they not too small (they are just the right size that you can have a three course meal and be perfectly satisfied -- you will never go home hungry; and sometimes might even take a little bit of leftovers with you).  There is even an extensive gluten-free menu.  As a bonus, on any given night you can see Ming himself working in the kitchen and strolling through the dining room conversing with guests.  He even quite thoroughly enjoys autographing cookbooks for you if you so desire.  This is one down-to-earth and genuinely pleasant guy.

Today’s recipe is one of Ming’s, which we found in his book, East Meets West Cooking with Ming Tsai.  This Southwestern-style soup is ready for Autumn -- it's hearty and sweet, but still has some of the zing we love.  And it has bacon, so who can argue with that?!?  :)


Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup with Bell Pepper-Bacon Salsa

SALSA INGREDIENTS

• 4 slices of bacon
• 1 small red onion, cut into a 1/4 inch dice
• 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into a1/4 inch dice
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Juice of 1 lime

SOUP INGREDIENTS

• 5 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger
• 2 small white or yellow onions, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon pureed chipotles in adobo
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into a 1/2 inch dice
• 6 cups Chicken Stock or low sodium canned broth (for this particular iteration of the recipe, I used Swanson Natural Goodness 100% Fat Free 33% Less Sodium Chicken Broth)
• 6 tablespoons butter, chilled and roughly chopped
• Juice of 1/2 lime

SALSA DIRECTIONS

1. Cook the bacon until crisp.  Crumble it and set to the side.
2. Pour most of the bacon fat into a heat-proof container, leaving only enough left in the pan to coat the pan lightly.  Reserve the bacon fat.
3. Add the onion and red pepper to the same pan used for cooking the bacon, and sauté over medium heat, stirring, until brown (about 5 minutes).  Season to taste with the salt and pepper (I tend to use minimal salt, personally).
4. Add the crumbled bacon and the lime juice.  Re-season if necessary, transfer the salsa to a bowl, and set aside at room temperature.

SOUP DIRECTIONS

1. Return the reserved bacon fat to the same pan and place over medium heat. Add the garlic, ginger, onions, and brown sugar, season with the salt and pepper to taste (again, minimal salt for me), and sauté, stirring, until the vegetables are brown (about 5 minutes).
2. Stir in the chipotle puree and wine, and cook over medium heat until the mixture is reduced by about three-fourths, approximately 5 minutes.
3. Add the sweet potatoes and stock and simmer until the potatoes are very soft, 20 to 25 minutes.
4. Using a hand blender or regular blender or food processor, puree the soup mixture. Add the butter one piece at a time, blending again after each addition, to thicken the soup slightly. Stir in the lime juice and correct the seasonings.
5. Immediately ladle into bowls, spoon a portion of the salsa onto each and serve.

We got 6 fairly large servings (about 1.75 cups of soup + 4 tbsp salsa), each with:

• 284 calories
• 7 grams protein
• 26 grams carbs
• 14 grams fat
• 3 grams fiber
• 815 mg sodium

This was a recipe that I had made many months ago, but I am now realizing that we happen to have a lot of these ingredients on hand at home right now (specifically chipotles in adobo that I was wondering how we'd use up), and so I think we should make this soup again very soon!  :)