by Ronald Collins

Created on: March 30, 2010

This is a really fun soup I put together that's probably more unique for its garnishes than the actual soup.  The pumpkin lager satisfies the pumpkin pie lover while all you sweet potato pie fans stay satisfied also.  Anyone who loves munching on cookie dough will also love this dish. The overall flavor profile in this soup is sweet complimented by the saltiness provided by the bacon garnish.  If you'd like you could always use a homemade sugar cookie dough as this would likely yield a tastier garnish. The sugar cookies should be golden brown when caramelized.  This soup goes over great on menus during the Fall months and pairs well with pumpkin ales and spiced ales, but my favorite drink to have with this dish is a warm Michigan apple cider and rum with a cinnamon stick.

Cream of Sweet Potato Soup w/ Caramelized Sugar Cookie and Bacon Lardon Garnish

3 sweet potatoes

4oz onion

2oz carrot

2oz celery

1 1/4 cups chicken stock

 6oz Pumpkin Ale

1.5oz dark brown sugar

 ½ tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp paprika (for color)

1 tsp turmeric (for color)

1/2 tsp allspice

Salt / white pepper tt

1 cup heavy cream

prepared Sugar Cookie dough

1/2# bacon

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and roast sweet potatoes for one and a half hours or until soft to the touch.  Sauté onions, carrot and celery in a tablespoon of olive oil in a large stock pot.  Reserve one ounce of dark brown sugar and set aside. Add remaining spices and sugar to celery, onions, and carrot, (also called a mirepoix) and sauté for five minutes.  Peel and puree sweet potatoes.  Add chicken stock sweet potato puree, and ale, stir and let simmer over low heat for twenty minutes. Puree again and add cream. Stir and let simmer for another 5 to 8 minutes then re-season with white pepper and salt to taste. Strain through chinois. The soup should be slightly thicker than the consistency of heavy cream, if the soup is too thick add cream until desired consistency is reached then re-season.

For Sugar Cookie and Bacon garnish:

Shape cookie dough into 1 inch balls and refrigerate. Refrigerating the dough balls helps them keep their shape in the saute pan instead of melting before they get a chance to brown.  Cut bacon into 1/4 inch wide strips down the width of the bacon so that you have roughly 1 to 1 1/2 inch long strips roughly a quarter of an inch wide called Lardons. Sauté bacon over medium to medium high heat until crispy yet still tender. Set aside. Sauté sugar cookie dough spheres over medium heat three per serving in 1 oz of the brown sugar and 2 oz clarified butter until outside is golden.

Ladel soup into bowl arranging two or three sugar cookie balls and a few sprinkles of bacon in a pile in the center of bow and serve.

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