Sweet Potato Soup with Smoked Salmon

Today there was a little taste of fall in the air.  This summer has been so hot and humid.   It is starting to cool off some and I really hope that it continues.  I am ready for cooler weather.  The fall and cooler weather makes me immediately think of soup, don't ask me why I don't know.  I thought a sweet potato soup would be great.  I dug through some recipes and found this one, it is from the Food Network, the recipe is called Nutty Sweet Potato Soup.  The only difference is that I added smoked salmon to the soup bowls.

Sweet Potato Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, diced (about 2 cups_

1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced (about 1 cup)

2 medium carrots, diced (about 1 cup)

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 clove garlic, minced (about 1 teaspoon)

1 teaspoon peeled and grated fresh ginger

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed (about 2 cups)

6 cups homemade chicken broth 

1 (14.5) ounce can of diced tomatoes, with juice

2/3 cup creamy natural peanut butter

2 teaspoons of honey

• 1/2 cup chopped scallion greens (about 3 scallions)
• Salt to Taste
• Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.  Add the onions, bell pepper and carrots and cook, stirring until the vegetables soften, about 5 minutes.  Add cayenne, black pepper, garlic and ginger and cook for 1 minute more.  Stir in the sweet potato, broth, and tomatoes and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a medium low and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.  
• Puree the soup in the pot using an immersion blender or in a regular blender in 2 batches and return to the soup pot.  Add the peanut butter and honey and stir, over low heat, until the peanut butter melts.  Serve warm, garnished with the scallions.   Add salt to taste ( I use homemade chicken broth that doesn't contain any salt).

**Note:  I use a Vitamix blender which has a way of blending spices that really bring out their natural flavors.  Because of this I think I would add slightly less cayenne pepper.  I would also add the peanut butter and honey while some of the soup was in the blender.  The peanut butter, although it melted, didn't really become smooth.  I added smoked salmon from seabear (this is where we buy our seafood) to the bowls before adding the soup.  The salmon added a nice flavor and of course added some great protein.