Sweet potato and rosemary soup

        Sometimes I like freezy days: I can indulge myself with a large cup of tea and rhum, read a good book and cook a delicious soup - it's the only way to comfort myself, look outside and smile!

         For today's cold day I cooked this lovely creamy and full of flavour sweet potato and rosemary soup. I like the way that the rosemary is giving a lovely and powerful  fragrance to the sweet potato, cutting a bit off its sweetness.             

        I like to keep things simple and not to mix too many ingredients. This way, I can taste all the beautiful aromas of each ingredient and feel their distinct flavour.

Ingredients (serves 4):

60 grams unsalted butter

3 tablespoons of olive oil

one big onion, or two small (aprox 200 grams)

3 garlic cloves

2 sweet potatoes (aprox. 650 grams)

2 stems of fresh rosemary 

1500 ml vegetable stock

4 teaspoons mascarpone cheese

salt and black ground pepper 

        Melt the butter and olive oil in a large pan, add the finely chopped onion and garlic and cook over low heat for bout 4-5 minutes, until the onion becomes soft. Then add the peeled and diced sweet potato, the vegetable stock and the rosemary and cook on medium high heat until boiling. When the mixture is boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for about 20-25 minutes until the potatoes are soft. 

        Remove the rosemary stems and pass the mixture through a sieve or blend it into the food processor until you get a smooth and thick cream. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

        Serve the sweet potato and rosemary soup with a teaspoon of fresh mascarpone cheese (or very thick double cream), fresh croutons and a drizzle of extravergin olive oil. 

Enjoy!