Sweet Potato and Leek Soup with Honey Bacon

Winter has arrived! What better way to spend chilly evenings than over a steaming bowl of soup? Recipe from the Sunday Times, slightly adapted by us.

Sweet Potato and Leek Soup with Honey Bacon

Ingredients

3 sweet potatoes, washed

6 leeks washed, outer layer removed and cut in half lengthways

Olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

1L vegetable stock

125 ml cream or full cream milk

250g streaky bacon

1 Tbsp honey

5 ml chilli flakes

Black pepper and salt to taste

How to make it

Pre-heat oven to 180°C.

Prick the skins of the sweet potatoes, rub with oil and place on a baking tray.

Bake until soft – approximately 45 to 60 minutes depending on the size of the sweet potatoes.

Place washed and sliced leeks on a baking tray, drizzle with 15ml of the oil and bake in the same oven for 15 minutes until just tender and crisping at the edges.

When the sweet potatoes are soft and cool enough to handle, remove the skins and chop roughly.

Roughly the cooked leeks, keeping some aside for garnish.

Heat a glug of olive oil in a deep pot, fry onion until translucent and add garlic for 1 minute.

Add the sweet potatoes and leeks, pour in stock and bring to the boil.

Remove from the heat and blend till smooth.

Place bacon on a baking tray and grill until crisp, remove from the oven and drain excess fat.

Drizzle bacon with the honey and sprinkle with chilli flakes.

Return to oven for about 10 minutes and allow bacon to caramelize.

To serve:

Reheat the blended soup and add the cream or milk, *You might want to add some more hot vegetable stock because it is quite thick.

Add salt and black pepper to taste.

Chop reserved leeks and bacon in to spoon size bits, dish hot soup into preheated soup bowls and garnish with bacon and leeks.

Serve with hot crusty bread.