Fall is my favorite time to make soup.  As soon as the weather here in the Pacific North West starts to cool, the first fires are lit, I am in the kitchen making a huge pot of soup. Once a week I make a new soup that we have through the week for lunch. Soup topped with something new each day leads to some creative explorations in my kitchen.

What I love about soup is that you can use up so many things in your refrigerator and pantry before they go bad. This week I had some sweet potatoes in the pantry and a jar of applesauce that needed to be finished up.

Why not make a bisque? Bisque is a smooth seasoned soup of French origin. Originally it was based on a strained broth of crustaceans like lobster, crab, shrimp or crayfish. But these days bisques are just a creamy soup that can be made from roasted and puréed vegetables, or fungi in addition to those traditional fish soups. But it has to be CREAMY SMOOTH.

This bisque is Gluten-Free, Vegetarian, and can easily be made Vegan

Curried Sweet Potato Apple Bisque

Ingredients

• 3 medium sweet potatoes
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Gram Masala
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• Himalayan pink salt and pepper
• 3 cups vegetarian “chicken” broth or regular broth if non-vegetarian.
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups milk ( or more water if vegan )
• 1 1/4 cups chunky applesauce

Directions

1.  Peel and dice your sweet potatoes. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large pot over medium heat.
2.  Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in the olive oil, ginger, curry powder, Garam Masala, cumin and salt and pepper to taste and cook 1 more minute.
3.  Add the diced sweet potatoes, broth and 2 cups water to the pot, cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium low and stir in the applesauce.
4.  Simmer, covered, until the sweet potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes.
5.  I like to puree the soup with my immersion blender until smooth. But you can wait until it has cooled a bit and transfer it to your blender. Just make sure you blend it until creamy.  Slowly add in your milk or extra water while you are blending to bring this up to a nice consistency.
6. Now bring your bisque back to the stove and on a medium heat, and warm this up until hot and steamy.  Don't do this too fast or your soup will stick. Stir nice and slowly, don't splatter. You want to heat this up to a nice 145 degree temperature before serving.
7.  Season with salt and pepper; and top with your favorite toppings.  Croutons, walnuts, even cheese work well in this fall favorite.