Rainy Day Sweet Potato Soup with Cayenne and Lime

It was a moody day yesterday and I was a moody girl. The rain on my day off left me feeling restless and stuck. Sometimes I welcome the rain. Sometimes it says "relax, go ahead, curl up, read a book, make a painting, bake something." 

But there was nothing friendly about yesterday's rain. 
It was the thick, gloomy, menacing kind. The kind that holds a day prisoner in its grey ether.  The kind that smothers hours as they unfold. 

Soggy and yawning.  

Yesterday was not a day at all. It was a shadow of a day.

Day or no day, I had the time off and decided to move around in the shadows. I had to come to terms with the wet word outside my window. So I pulled on my rain boots and went for a walk, stepping in every puddle I came across just to be sure I was fully embracing the situation. 


I stopped in at a new bakery that just opened in my neighborhood. It cheered me up right away. The young girls behind the counter were smiling and I ordered cauliflower soup with harissa. It was bright white and smooth. Cauliflower silk. And, you may remember, I have a thing for harissa.

When I got back to my apartment I was inspired.  Ready to make some kind of silky soup. I scrummaged together the brightest ingredients that I could find...

And I made something really good.

Here's what I did: I tossed the sweet potatoes and a hand full of garlic cloves (skin still on them) in a little coconut oil (olive oil would work too), cayenne pepper, paprika and sea salt and roasted them until they were soft. 

Once roasted, I peeled the flesh from the skin while the potatoes were still warm and reserved the skins to toast for a little longer and use as garnish. Next, I processed the potato flesh and garlic cloves with 6 cups of warm vegetable stock until smooth. Transferring to a pot, I heated the mixture on medium heat, added the juice of a lime and combined. Finally, I seasoned with a little salt, ladled into my bowl and garnished with the crispy skins. 

You'll need:
3 large sweet potatoes, cut into spears
8 gloves of garlic
6 cups vegetable stock
cayenne pepper (to taste)
paprika (to taste)
sea salt (to taste)
the juice of 1 lime
3 tablespoons coconut or olive oil