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We’re currently living with my husband’s parents while our new home is being built. Subsequently, there are a lot of cooks in our kitchen. When the cold weather hit, the house was suddenly full of soups, namely bisque.

Bisque is my favorite type of soup to make.

It’s basically three ingredients: meat or vegetable, broth, and cream. There are so many variations, you can’t go wrong. I’ve been wanting to create a sweet potato bisque recipe for some time now. I finally found a free afternoon, so I’m excited to share the results with y’all.

Call me crazy, but I’m not a fan of the popular orange sweet potato [aka – yam]. While I know they are more nutritious, I just can’t stomach them. In my opinion, they are too sweet, with a strange overly-mushy texture. I used to regularly see a nutritionist, who suggested I try the white sweet potato–Yes, they existto get similar benefits but a different taste.

White sweet potatoes quickly became my favorite pick of the potato family, even over regular white potatoes. They are higher in vitamins B and C, and lower in carbohydrates. They taste similar to regular white potatoes, and only slightly sweeter [obviously…]. White sweet potatoes can be found in most American grocery stores. You may have never heard of them, but if you look they will be there, right next to the yams. 

To learn more about the confusing truth behind potatoes, check out this article from The Kitchn.

A few things to keep in mind while preparing a bisque…

 Always chop your vegetables–in this case potatoes–in equally sized pieces. They will cook evenly, preventing over and undercooked pieces. Time saving hint: The smaller you chop them the faster they cook!

sweet potato bisque

Dried mushrooms are just as important to this recipe as the potatoes themselves. While you can absolutely skip them, you will be missing the depth of flavor they add. Simmer the mushrooms before adding them to the soup to bring out their flavor. [If you want to try this in a soup that isn’t cream-based, you can simmer them in any liquid.]

sweet potato bisque

Many bisque recipes call for half and half. I never use the stuff, not for soups, not for coffee, not for anything. Heavy whipping cream may be higher fat content, but it is absolutely luxurious and necessary.

sweet potato bisque

Bisque is simple…but its garnish definitely shouldn’t be.

For this recipe I tried something new…candied bacon and fresh pecans. The soup is certainly rich, but the flavor is simple. I wanted to add a crunchy, unexpected twist. When made right, candied bacon is a perfect sweet companion to savory foods. I chose not to candy the pecans. Fresh pecans have a light bitterness I wanted to keep, in order to offset the sweet bacon and rich soup.

If you try this recipe, I’d love to see it! Tag @thechicgourmay on Instagram or Twitter, and use the hashtags #foodiefam and #thechicgourmay

Sweet Potato Bisque

A simple yet elegant soup, best served on a cold Autumn evening.
Course Soup
Cuisine American, French
Servings 6 people

Ingredients
  

Bisque

  • 2 Cartons (32 oz) Swanson Chicken Broth 64 oz total
  • 2 Sweet Potatoes Large
  • 1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
  • 1/2 Cup Salted Butter
  • 1/2 Cup White Onion
  • 1 TBS Minced Garlic
  • 5 Cubes Chicken Bullion
  • 1-2 Dried Mushrooms I used Oyster mushrooms
  • 1 Bay Leaf
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

Candied Bacon & Pecan Garnish

  • 4 Strips Bacon
  • 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
  • 1/2 Cup Pecans roughly chopped

Instructions
 

Preparing the Bisque

  • Melt butter in large stock pot on medium heat. Finely chop white onion, and add to melted butter with minced garlic. Saute until garlic is light brown and onions become transparent.
  • Add chicken stock and bay leaf, bring to a rolling boil.
  • Add white sweet potatoes and bullion cubes. Stir until bullion cubes are dissolved. Boil until potatoes are thoroughly cooked.
  • While potatoes are boiling, simmer dried mushrooms and cream in a small sauce pan. Be very careful not to scald the cream. Stir often.
  • When potatoes are finished cooking, add contents of large stock pot to a blender, along with the dried mushrooms (not the cream). Blend until smooth, and return to large stock pot.
  • Add heavy whipping cream to the blended soup, and black pepper to taste.

Garnish the Bisque

  • Cook bacon until half done. Dip each side of the bacon in the brown sugar, coating well.
  • Finish cooking bacon on medium heat, slowly letting the sugar caramelize around the meat. Bacon is done when it is hard and shiny, like candy.
  • Chop the bacon into small pieces, mix with chopped pecans and sprinkle on top of the soup.

Notes

Vegetarian bullion and/or broth can be substituted for Chicken. I don’t recommend using beef.
Keyword bisque, simple recipes, soup, starters, sweet potato

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