I was happily planning for the holidays, and was even ahead of schedule, which is quite the accomplishment for me, personally. I had all of my projects planned for the next two months, I had the house unpacked and put away, the decorations were on their way up and lists were made for both Santa and groceries among other things. Even my house was surprisingly tidy which in retrospect was a telling sign of the chaos soon to arrive, much like the calm before a storm. Yes, my little ducks were all in a row; And then, quite frankly, it all fell to pieces.
Wonderful.
I suppose it is my fault for trying to avoid disaster. Knowing that I am empirically prone to disaster, I should really just have tempted fate by procrastinating, avoiding deadlines and perhaps stuffing a turkey while balancing fine china on my head. Now, that just might deserve catastrophe, at the very least. Nobody would be surprised if catastrophe plagued someone who was asking for it. I won’t go into all the details(especially about the cold, the flu, and the busted autofocus on my brand new-to-me / used canon slr camera. I’m pretty sure I literally shook my fists, which is kind of ridiculously hilarious, but beside the point of interest of this post) .
I will however, breathe and eat this delicious soup and remember that becoming hysterical in a moment of chaos often solves little. Keeping a point and shoot in your back pocket at all times, however, occasionally serves a purpose. Sure, it’s not as sharp of an image and it is in no way as perfect as I would have liked it to be. But, it served its purpose and now I move on to fixing the bigger issues. Staying calm is always better than escalating the pandemonium that often infests my day; a point that is easily lost at times during the holiday season. Note to self: remember to keep calm. That pesky hysterical pandemonium must be vanquished, and this warm, comforting yet fairly light soup is the perfect way to re-center my internal auto focus and maybe not sweat the small stuff so much. I have food, fun and family and for that I am eternally grateful.
Sweet potato Wonton Soup
- 3 large sweet potatoes
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- a few fresh sage leaves
- a pinch of nutmeg and allspice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- One package of wonton wrappers (48 wrappers)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Vegetable Soup Mix: chopped celery, carrot, onion, cabbage and mushroom (may vary to taste)
- One cup of dry white wine
- 4 quarts (one gallon) homemade or store bought vegetable stock
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the ends off of the potatoes, dividing 4 tablespoons of butter among them and wrap in aluminum foil. Bake in preheated oven until they are tender and soft (1-2 hours depending on size of potatoes). Unwrap cooked potatoes and cut a slit lengthwise in the skin of each. Pull the skin away from the potato and discard. Push the potatoes through a potato ricer while they are hot and place in glass bowl. Place 4 tablespoons of butter into skillet on medium heat and add sage leaves. Simmer butter and sage until brown bits fall to bottom of mixture. Remove sage leaves and fold into the riced potatoes. Add nutmeg, allspice, salt pepper, chipotle adobo sauce and sour cream and fold in until evenly distributed. Taste and add additional salt and pepper to taste. Wrap sweet potato filling once cooled in wonton wrappers and refrigerate wontons in a single layer on parchment-lined sheet pans until ready to use.
In a large pot over medium heat, add olive oil. When oil ripples and barely starts to smoke, drop in the vegetable mix. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss the mix around on bottom of pot until gently browned on all sides (cooking time will vary depending on how many vegetables are added and what thickness they’re chopped). Once browned and slightly sticking to bottom of pot, add wine. Simmer and stir for a minute, pulling up any brown bits from bottom of pan. Add in stock and bring to a boil until vegetables are tender. Once soup is boiling and vegetables are tender, add in refrigerated wontons and boil for 2-3 minutes, until tender. Serve. Enjoy.
Dish inspired by and slightly adapted from Thomas Keller’s Sweet Potato Agnolotti with Sage Cream, Brown Butter and Prosciutto, from The French Laundry. Note: If you would like to use leftover roasted root vegetables or mashed sweet potatoes, that would also work well, so long as they are savory and not too sweet.
These look so delicious!The closest thing I’ve had is a squash ravioli which was out of this world.I can imagine how yummy sweet potatoes would taste inside the wontons!Lovely recipe
Soup is the answer to all problems! This looks like a delicious one!!!
wow I love wonton soup and I learn making this on one of my blogger name nami but this is kind a different you used sweet potato and that is a healthy one.
What a lovely soup! And I’m sure it’s just as good as it looks!
oh, I do hope you and your camera are recovering, I know how frustrating it can be to not be feeling well, especially around a holiday, and to have your camera act up on top of that just adds to the misery…..
But on a good note, what a creative delicious bowl of soup! I would love to have tried those wontons! Thanks for creating this masterpiece of flavors for us!
Dennis
This delectable soup would help de-stress the holiday chaos! It looks amazing, Kate. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! xo
What a great idea! This soup looks wonderful!
Lovely! I love wontons. I love that you can put anything you want in them. I love that you put SWEET POTATO in them! Genius
Buzzed
SO creative!
What a perfect soup for the cold weather that’s rolled in. And I love that you were inspired by Keller’s agnolotti, what a great interpretation!
This soup looks absolutely delicious! Sorry to hear you are not feeling well but hopefully you’re better in time for Thanksgiving!
This is so delicious looking. Love the picture. I still have the crappiest camera on the face of the planet. But I borrowed my bro’s and within one day got a small hair in the lens. He was not please. Apparently I don’t put the cap on properly or use caution when changing lenses. Who knew?
Wow! Wantons and sweet potatoes in the same soup! It just doesn’t get any better than that! I hope that you and your camera are on the mend soon! : )
Oh! I’m so sorry about your camera. And the cold, flu, etc. Not fun at all. I’m shaking my fists for you too! As for the soup – it looks perfect for that kind of a day.
This soup is perfect for unwinding from a bad day! Love the sweet potato and wontons!
The soup looks so delicious and comforting, great combination of flavors with the sweet potatoes!
It is freezing outside and about to start raining. I could sure go for a bowl of this…it looks so delicious and hearty for the soul. Lovely!
Very creative and tasty dish here, I would love to try this. I have had wonton soup, but nothing like this. There is so much flavor and fresh ingredients here, definitely a winner. Yum!
This sounds perfect. I love how you used wontons in this. What a great way to warm up! I am such a mess. I don’t have a DSLR yet because I’m too afraid to break it!
SLR or not this soup looks wonderful! What a great use of sweet potatoes!