Sweet potato soup with toasted pumpkin seeds

This sweet potato soup screams autumn. I found it on the website of Sweet Paul and I only made minor changes: I added the choice of using coconut oil instead of olive oil, I used Greek yoghurt instead of heavy cream, and I added the ginger. I haven't tasted it with thyme twigs yet but I'm sure it adds a wonderful flavour. Happy Autumn!

SWEET POTATO SOUP WITH TOASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS

INGREDIENTS

• 1 onion
• 1 garlic clove
• optional: fresh ginger (about the size of a dice)
• 4 large sweet potatoes
• 3 large carrots
• 1½-2 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil (2 in original recipe)
• 2 organic vegetable stock cubes (or chicken)
• 1 litre (4 cups) water
• 190 ml (¾ cup) Greek yoghurt (heavy cream in original recipe)
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground chilli
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• garnish: toasted pumpkin seeds and thyme twigs and Greek yoghurt (or heavy cream)

METHOD

1. Peel and chop the onion, sweet potatoes, carrots, and ginger
2. In a large saucepan, sauté them briefly the oil
3. Add the vegetable stock cubes and water and bring to the boil, then lower the heat to low-medium
4. Cook for around 25 minutes or until the vegetables are tender
5. Using a hand blender, purée the soup. Then add Greek yoghurt (or cream) to thicken it
6. Stir the soup and bring to the boil
7. Season with chilli and pepper. Add salt if required
8. Toast pumpkin seeds in a pan until lightly toasted
9. Serve soup in bowls garnished with pumpkin seeds, fresh thyme and a drizzle of Greek yoghurt (heavy cream)

Tomato soup with garlic and thyme

In our house this soup goes under the name Mooney soup, as I first tasted it at a birthday party in my friend Mooney's house, or The Palace, as she refers to her cosy and small flat in the city centre of Reykjavik. The recipe appeared in the food section of some Icelandic morning paper many years ago and I like the simplicity of it. It doesn't take long to prepare the soup so it's perfect on cold days when you don't have much time to cook. This is basically the original recipe but I have added the red lentils, ground coriander and paprika.

TOMATO SOUP WITH GARLIC AND THYME

INGREDIENTS

• 1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 vegetable stock cubes, yeast free
• 2 cans diced tomatoes (2 x 400 g)
• 1.2 litres water (about 5 cups)
• optional: 2 tablespoons red lentils
• 2 teaspoons thyme
• ¼-½ teaspoon ground coriander
• ¼ teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• pinch of freshly ground black pepper

METHOD

1. In the original recipe all the ingredients are put into a saucepan at once but I like to fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil for just a few minutes, until they turn soft
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 30 minutes
3. If you prefer, purée the soup with a hand blender before serving (you can also use a food processor but then it is advisable to allow the soup to cool first and warm it up before serving)
4. Serve with home-made bread or garlic bread