Sweet Potato, Apple and Red Lentils with Fresh Herbs Fall Soup
It’s fall in Colorado and time for fall soup. We’re experiencing cool nights and warm days while it’s already snowing above 10,000 feet in the Rockies. Plenty of fall fruits and veggies fill the farmer’s markets and grocery store shelves.
Sopa, zuppa, soup! Whatever you call it, is warming and loving. Good soup is a creation of love, whether it comes from leftovers or completely new ingredients because it takes time to layer in the flavors and create the perfect taste.
This fall soup recipe is inspired by a recipe found on Foodgawker, filled with sweet potatoes, apples and beer. While I didn’t have any beer, I did have an open bottle of dry white wine and plenty of sweet potatoes, apples, pears and fresh fall herbs. And now, you have the results of that inspiration in my soup recipe, Sweet Potato, Apple and Red Lentil with Fresh Herbs Fall Soup.
Hubby loves it. And I love the warming factors of it. It’s warming through all the fresh ginger and turmeric, as well as the red chili pepper flakes. Not to mention, it has plenty of low-fat protein in the addition of the red lentils.
The addition of cheese, infused olive oil and salty prosciutto lends a beautiful silky fat to soup, almost making you feel guilty that you’re eating it but don’t fear, this soup is quite light and healthy. It’s a great soup for helping lighten up the Thanksgiving meal while still tasting completely sinful.
Loaded with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh herbs and cancer-fighting spices, I also used milk instead of cream to help balance out the fats. If you want to know more about the yummy health benefits of apples read Helen Nichols from Well-Being Secrets well-written article “34 Science-Baked Health Benefits of Apples.”
And it’s easy to make a vegetarian or vegan version just by using water or veggie stock, adding extra for the milk and putting in some toasted pumpkin seeds for crunch in the place of the prosciutto.
As usual, this fall soup recipe is completely changeable. Just toss in your favorite fresh herbs or veggies. You could use butternut squash, carrots or even tomato. Add more apples or all pears. You can even switch up the cheese for you favorite or use beer instead of wine. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Have fun and make them to your favorite flavors. Just don’t forget to share.
Sweet Potato, Apple and Red Lentils with Fresh Herbs Fall Soup
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil + Tbsp. for frying sage and prosciutto
- 2 cups leeks sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ pounds sweet potatoes peeled and diced small
- 1 pound apples peeled and diced small (I used Fuji and Gala)
- 1 large red pear peeled and diced small
- 1 cup red lentils washed
- 1 Tbsp. fresh ginger grated
- 1 cup dry white wine I used a New Zealand Sauvignon blanc
- 1 tsp. tumeric
- ¾ tsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp. ground coriander
- ½ tsp. ground white pepper
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- ½ to 1 tsp. red chili pepper flakes to taste
- ½ tsp. garlic powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tsp. fresh thyme chopped
- 1 tsp. fresh sage chopped
- 8 cups water or chicken/veggie stock
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup aged white cheddar + more for topping shredded
- ¼ cup aged Parmesan shredded
- 10 – 12 sage leaves fried and roughly chopped
- 3 strips prosciutto fried and roughly chopped
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add leeks and cook until soft, before adding minced garlic. Cook garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Toss in diced sweet potato, apple and pear. Followed by the cup of white wine. Simmer to reduce wine by half.
- Add in all spices, fresh ginger, 2 teaspoons of thyme and 1 teaspoon of sage.
- Toss in the lentils and pour in the water/stock.
- Stir well, bring soup to a boil and the reduce to a simmer for about 45 minutes or until veggies/fruit are soup.
- Puree soup using a stick blender or pour into a blender/food processor and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Return to pot and continue to reduce to desired thickness.
- While soup is reducing: Add 2 tablespoon of olive oil to a skillet over medium heat. Add sage leaves and fry until crisp, followed by prosciutto. Again, cooking until crispy. Watch oil, reducing heat as necessary to get sage leaves and prosciutto crispy without burning the oil. Save the infused oil.
- Add milk to the soup and continue to reduce.
- Once soup has reached desired thickness, add cheese, stirring well to mix in.
- Heat through and remove soup from heat.
- Serve immediately or at room temp.
- Top soup with more aged white cheddar and crispy prosciutto and sage leaves. Drizzle with the infused olive oil from frying the sage and prosciutto. Also great with crusty bread.
- Freeze soup for to three months for later use.