Sweet Potato Soup with Duck Crack-ling

Its the time of year that soup is an absolute must-have. Its right up there with sweaters and remarkably ugly boot slippers. The coziest fire, the best worn sweat pants just don't have the same impact as soup. This soup is a very basic soup made with leftover spicy roasted sweet potatoes. You can use your Thanksgiving leftovers, or even leftover sweet potato fries. This dish is leftovers gone wild. Make it fresh for the holiday meal, or serve it a few days after. This is a perfect starter, or meal on its own. The icing crack on the cake is the crack-ling. Fried crispy duck and chicken skin. Like little clouds from the heavens these little croutons take this creamy and smooth soup into a whole new world of ridiculous deliciousness. Homemade stock only makes it better! 

Sweet Potato Soup

I used roasted "fingerling" style sweet potatoes I found at the local farm stand. They were roasted with cayenne and butter. You can roast regular whole yams or sweet potatoes, leftover from last nights supper or freshly roasted. Be sure to soften them to room temperature before blending. (unless they are already puree'd)

2-3 cups cooked sweet potatoes ( about 1-2 cups of puree)
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1-2 garlic cloves
salt, pepper, cayenne

In a blender or food processor combine warm or room temperature sweet potatoes (cold ones will not blend easily) and enough warm chicken stock to puree'. Add garlic, salt, pepper, brown sugar and cayenne. Pour into soup pot and warm over medium heat. Adjust seasonings to taste. Stir in up to 1/2 cup of cream. If you do not have cream use approximately 3 tablespoons of butter to finish. Add additional milk, stock or water to thin to your desired consistency. Serve warm with red pepper, green onion, crack-ling or even toasted bread. 

Duck Crack-ling

When I roast chickens and ducks now, I always make a homemade stock. This soup utilizes the best quality homemade stock as well as the fried duck and chicken skin. (I use both but you can use only duck) See my post on Homemade Stock for all of the details on stock, crack-lin and roasting details.

For the summary here it is: Roast the bird as you usually would with the skin patted dry and salted. When cooked remove the skin and chop into chunks. Fry chunks in bacon grease, duck fat or frying oil until crisped and brown. (approximately 3 minutes at medium-high heat) Sprinkle with salt and use as you would any other crouton. Great on salads and soups. Or you could just grab some hot sauce, sneak away somewhere private and enjoy it all for yourself!