Sweet potato and sausage soup

Pam made a new soup last week and thought she'd share it with us. This sounds good and hearty for Fall. This comes from the October 2007 edition of Bon Appetit Magazine.




3 Tbl. extra virgin oil
10 oz.smoked Portugese Linguica sausage or dry chorizo sausage, cut crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 lbs. sweet potatoes( about 2 large),peeled, quartered, and cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 lb. white potato, peeled, halved and cut into 1/4 inch slices
6 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 x 9 oz. bag of fresh spinach


Heat 2 Tbl. olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium high heat.  Add sausage, cook until brown, about 8 minutes.  Transfer sausage to paper towels to drain.  Add onion and garlic to the pot and cook until translucent, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add all of the potatoes and cook until beginning to soften again, stirring often, about 12 minutes. Add the broth; bring to a boil scraping up the brown bits .  Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until potatoes are soft, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.  Using a submersible blender, blend until smooth( if you want it chunkier, use a potato masher).
Add the browned sausage to the soup.  Stir in the spinach and simmer until just wilted.  Stir in remaining Tbl. olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.


NOTE:  Pam was able to find chorizo, but thinks kielbasa or cajun sausage(like andoulle) would work fine.  She's going to substitute kale for the spinach next time also.