http://www.MotherearthNews.coM 13The Gardener’s Table
at garden centers, or order them, as
we do, from a supplier, such as Steele
Plant Co. in Gleason, Tennessee. Or,
you can just buy a few organic, un-
treated sweet potatoes and grow your
own slips. To do so, plant a tuber in
a pot with its bottom half in moist
sand — or use toothpicks to suspend
it halfway in a glass of water — and
it will soon send up numerous green
shoots. Pull these shoots off when
they’re 6 to 8 inches long, and then
put them in a glass of water, where
they’ll quickly develop roots.
However you’ve obtained them, the
slips should be planted after frost dan-
ger has passed. Set them deep, with
just the top foliage above ground. As
they grow, keep them well-irrigated.
As the vines cover the ground, they’ll
shade out some weeds, but the rest
must be hoed or pulled. Dig the tubers
at the first sign of frost and cure them
for 10 days in a warm, humid place
so the flavor can develop. Then keep
them in a cool, dry area (not in the
fridge) for winter.
I could happily spend winter eat-
ing baked sweet potatoes right out of
their skins, slit lengthwise with a pat
of butter dropped in. I also like them
mashed and buttered with a handful
of chopped pecans scattered over the
top and briefly broiled. But it’s fun
to branch out and try them in soups,
stews, curries, breads, cakes, pies, and
spiced puddings.The Many Shapes
of Shallots
Shallots look like tiny onions, but
their shape is somewhere between an
onion and a head of garlic. They grow
in clusters joined at the base like the
cloves in garlic do — each clove in its
own skin — but the clusters are more
open than that of garlic. Their form
varies. At one extreme is the ‘French
Grey’ shallot, which has many small
cloves. But in other cultivars, the
cloves are fat and few. Shallots grown
from seed are often the latter and may
have a flavor that’s more onion-like.
Plant shallots in late fall or early
spring by separating the cloves and set-Spicy Sweet Potato Soup
with Fried Shallots
A touch of tropical heat in this soup tempers
the sweetness of the tubers, which might other-
wise be cloying. Winter is not normally a season
for tropical tastes; your garden might still have
some cilantro if your climate is mild, but hot
peppers? No. A little Tabasco (or Sriracha or hot
pepper flakes) does the trick, though, along with
the warm, cheering colors of carrot, saffron, and
paprika — and the flesh of the sweet potatoes
themselves if you’ve grown a bright-orange vari-
ety. Baking the sweet potatoes with their skins
on concentrates and intensifies their flavor in a
way that boiling would not. Shallots, fried until
a bit crispy, are a tasty garnish. If you have a
bumper crop of shallots, you could substitute
them for the onions in the recipe as well.
I make the whole recipe even if I’m only feed-
ing a couple of people because the soup is just
as good reheated the next day, with any leftover
fried shallots stirred in. Yield: 6 servings.
Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Fahrenheit. Slice the shallots very fine, cross-
wise, to make a pile of little rings. Heat the
sunflower oil in your smallest skillet or sauce-
pan until it’s just beginning to be fragrant, and
then drop in the shallots. This is best done in
batches, with the heat low enough to brown the
shallots evenly and to keep the oil from foaming
up too much from their moisture. When they’re
golden brown, remove them with a slotted
spoon and drain on paper towels. They’ll crisp
up a bit while you’re making the soup. Retain
the oil and set aside.
Set the sweet potatoes, whole and unpeeled,
on a baking sheet, pricking them a few times
first with a knife to let steam escape during
cooking. Bake for 1 hour or until the flesh is
very soft. Let them cool, then peel.
While the sweet potatoes are in the oven, pour(^1) ⁄ 4 cup of the reserved shallot-flavored sunflower
oil into a large saucepan or Dutch oven and set over medium-low heat. (Save the remain-
ing oil for a future use.) Add the onions, celery, carrot, and salt. Cover and sweat the
vegetables over low heat for 20 minutes or until very soft, stirring from time to time with
a spatula to make sure they don’t burn. Add the chicken broth, Tabasco sauce, saffron,
paprika, and orange juice. Add the sweet potatoes and chop them a bit with your spatula
to break up the fibers. Cover and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Turn heat to low
and simmer, partly covered, for 15 minutes.
Purée the soup in a blender or food processor and return it to the saucepan. Add the
cream and taste for seasoning. Reheat if needed, over low heat, and serve hot, with the
fried shallots afloat on top.
Ingredients
-^1 ⁄ 4 pound shallots, peeled
-^3 ⁄ 4 cup sunflower oil
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
(about 1^1 ⁄ 2 pounds), unpeeled - 2 medium onions, coarsely
chopped (about 1^1 ⁄ 2 cups) - 1 celery stalk, chopped
medium fine - 1 large carrot, chopped
medium fine
-^1 ⁄ 2 tsp coarse sea salt - 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 tsp Tabasco sauce
-^1 ⁄ 2 tsp saffron threads - 1 tbsp sweet paprika,
preferably smoked - Juice of 5 squeezed oranges,
enough to make 1 cup - 1 cup cream
p 10-14 Gardeners Table_c.indd 13 10/7/16 10:03 AM