For me, some of the best meal ideas are born strictly at the farmers market. Last Saturday, I headed over to the 14th & U Street Farmers Market for my weekly grocery shopping (yes my friends, you can get pretty much all your grocery needs from your friendly, neighborhood farmers markets). In the back of my head I knew I wanted to make a soup for lunch for the week, but wasn’t sure what to put in it. Save being dead set on using apples (we do still have a lot of them from apple picking), I hadn’t a clue what to make. But as I walked along the market, all the Fall offerings started giving me ideas.
To say I’m forgetful is pretty much an understatement. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that as I was plotting my produce purchases, it dawned on me that I didn’t have any cash. That’s when I remembered the 14th & U Farmers Market ATM program. Instead of using a bank ATM, I decided to give it a try. I headed over to the market information table, where Maia was manning the ATM/EBT machine. She took my ATM card and explained that instead of dollars, I’ll receive $5 wooden tokens that I can use throughout the market season at 14th & U. But the best thing about using the market ATM is how it helps to provide fresh food to low income residents in the DC area. The ATM fee of $2 (which I would have incurred anyway since the nearest ATM wasn’t my bank’s ATM) goes toward the food stamp program offered at the farmers market. The program allows food stamp recipients to use their stamps at the farmers market to get fresh produce, meats and dairy. So not only are you getting local, fresh and in season foods, you’re also giving someone less fortunate the opportunity to do the same thing. I was wowed by the program and psyched that there was another way to support universal access to fresh, local produce. Robin Shuster, market manager, said she would love to see more people use the market ATM program (my hint to those of you who shop the 14th & U market regularly).
With tokens in hand, I started walking around the market, trying to get some inspiration. As I was walking around Garner’s Produce stand, my eyes caught sight of some amazing poblano peppers and huge sweet potatoes. This triggered the memory of a soup I tried at a restaurant consisting of Chipotle peppers, sweet potatoes and apples. I decided then and there to try to recreate the same dish at home. Since the poblano peppers were right in my face, I opted to use them instead of Chipotle peppers. Roasting them only came to my mind when I got home and unloaded all of my farmers market finds onto the counter. Hours of chopping, sauteeing and simmering later, I had the equivalent of a warm hug in my soup bowl.
Recipe: Apple, Sweet Potato & Roasted Poblano Pepper Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 3 apples (preferably Gala) peeled, cut into quarters and coarsely chopped
- 2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 1 quart vegetable stock
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 Poblano peppers, seeded, roasted and coarsely chopped
- Salt and white pepper to taste
Instructions
- To roast the Poblano peppers, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the peppers on a baking sheet lined with foil and roast for about four minutes. Turn the peppers and allow to roast for another 2-4 minutes, or until the peppers are softened and blistering but not too mushy. Remove the peppers from the oven and place them in a container with a lid. Allow to sit for at least an hour. Once cooled, take the peppers out of the container and split them in half. Scrape out the seeds and then coarsely chop the peppers.
- Heat the oil in a Dutch oven and add the onions, garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions have softened, about 5 minutes. Add the apples and allow them to cook for another 5 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes, Poblano peppers, stock and water and bring everything to a boil.
- Reduce the heat, partially cover the pot and allow to simmer for about an hour (or until the apples and sweet potatoes are tender). Remove the Dutch oven from the heat and allow the mixture to cool slightly. Then either using an immersion blender or a regular blender (working in batches), blitz the soup until smooth.
Number of servings (yield): 4
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
whoa… this sounds really good. i’m not usually a fan of soup, but this makes me want to give it a go.
I love this soup! it was very easy and tasty. I’ve been looking for a yam and poblano recipe for awhile and this is the best. The apples are a nice touch.