Sweet Potato, Apple and Red Lentils with Fresh Herbs Fall Soup
A warming fall soup full of sweet potatoes, apples, pear and red lentils topped with English aged white cheddar, parmesan, crispy sage and prosciutto with a swirl of sage and prosciutto flavored olive oil
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.
