St. Brendan’s Irish Root Soup
- Jasmine
Awhile back, one of our clients (Thanks RuthAnn!) shared with us the mind-blowing book “Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us”. In it, the author Michael Moss show us that there is an ideal amount of sugar (called the bliss point) that can be added to food; too little is no good and too much is a waste. The same is true for salt, finding as we come accustomed to salt the more we prefer but that too little salt can take a once savory food to being nearly inedible. The clincher is when it comes to fat. For fat, there is no optimal level at which too much fat is less desirable. More is always better and researchers determined that if there is a bliss point for fat it is somewhere beyond heavy whipping cream! They also found that people could not discern the amount of fat in a food, often wildly underestimating how much fat was in it.
- Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Back to St. Brendan’s magnificent soup. Was this a case of unnecessary extravagance? You be the judge! Here is the XO’d version of St. Brendan’s Irish Root Soup.2T Olive Oil1T Butter2 lb Carrots peeled and diced2 whole Leeks diced, then washed well (originally Whites only diced)6 garlic cloves peeled and chopped
- Sauteed Leeks
2 lbs Sweet Potatoes, halved and roasted (see note)4 cups Vegetable Stock (originally Chicken stock)1 can evaporated milk (24g fat) or 2 Cups fat free half & half (zero g fat) (originally 2 cups Heavy whipping cream, 176 grams fat!)2 T sugar (We omitted this altogether as unnecessary with the carrots and sweet potatoes)Salt and pepper to taste. Per the original recipe: Parboil sweet potatoes and then oven roast at 350 on a cookie sheet using parchment paper until brown. (I have skipped this step altogether and boiled everything until soft, but I have to admit the BEST version was when Karin followed these directions to the letter AND we use the evaporated milk… Will have to try again skipping this step and using evaporated milk to see if this step is worth the extra effort.) Heat oil and butter in large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add carrots, leeks, garlic and sweet potatoes. Saute until the leeks are translucent, about eight minutes, Add stock and evaporated milk or half & half. Cover and simmer about thirty minutes. Stir occasionally. Either puree the soup in batches in a blender or simply carefully use an immersion blender (best tool ever) to puree soup. Enjoy! Made with Fat Free half and half, this recipe is about 122 calories per cup. Made with evaporated milk 135 calories. Made with heavy cream, 211 calories per cup. You decide which is richer, I can’t tell a difference!
