Leek & sweet potato soup
My original plan to was to make classic leek and potato soup, but seeing some sweet potatoes in the veg rack I ended up taking a left turn and I’m really glad I did as I love this recipe! It makes a hearty nutritious soup with lots of flavour that’s quick and easy to make. I think I’ve decided I’m more of a chunky soup person in general as I really like my food to have different textures and this soup definitely ticks that box. I’ve been eating it for lunch all week and I haven’t even needed any bread as it’s really filling. I’ve used spicy paprika for flavour and to give a kick with some additional chilli to bring the heat level up a notch. But if you prefer it milder, just leave out the chill flakes.
Ingredients
Serves 6
1 tbsp olive oil
2 large sweet potatoes
2 large leeks, slices
1 large knob of butter
1 garlic clove, grated
1 ½ tsp hot paprika
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
120g red lentils
1 vegetable stock cube
1.1L water
50g kale, chopped
¾ tsp sea salt
Juice of ½ lemon
Fresh parsley to serve, optional
Method
Preheat the oven to 200ºc.
Put the sweet potatoes on a tray and bake for approx 45 minutes. Check that they are completely cooked through before removing from the oven. Set aside to cool a little so you can peel off the skin and mash.
Heat the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan, add the leeks, cooking on low with the lid on for 20 minutes until softened.
Next add the garlic and stir in well before mixing in the paprika and chilli. Allow the spices to warm for a minute so they release their flavour and then add the lentils, sweet potato, crumbled stock cube and water.
Simmer for 20 minutes with the lid on stirring occasionally.
Stir in the kale and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Squeeze in the lemon juice and add the salt.
Serve with a sprinkle of fresh parsley.
Tip
The spiced paprika I used is blended with cayenne pepper.