Homemade Sweet Potato & Pumpkin Soup

When winter comes, I love to stay warm inside, look out the window at the snow, and eat... a lot! As any of my friends will tell you, I always have room for a little something.

My husband and I like to cook big portions so that we can store away some for the days when we don't feel like cooking. One of our favorites is this soup recipe, which also happens to have lots of comforting winter flavors (and it's pretty healthy, to boot!). I don't have a concrete recipe, so you can add or subtract wherever you like; it almost always comes out tasting great!

So, here goes:

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash (flespompoen), or two if they're small
3 sweet potatoes (zoete aardappels), peeled and chopped (more if they're small)
2 small red onions, chopped
1 liter vegetable stock (bouillon)
balsamic vinegar
butter or margarine
ginger syrup (Thais/ Indonesian food section)
cinnamon (kaneel)
chipotle pepper sauce (Mexican food section)
pepper (I like white pepper)
fresh ginger, minced, 1 tablespoon or more to taste

fresh cilantro (koriander) and goat cheese (chevre) for garnish

Directions:

1. Bake the squash on a baking sheet at 180°C (350°F) for about half an hour. Once it's cool enough to touch, cut it in half, remove seeds, and peel. Cut into chunks.

2. In a large soup pot, melt butter on medium heat. Add onions and sauté with balsamic (about 2 tablespoons) to caramelize.

3. After a few minutes, add enough ginger syrup to just cover the onions, then add sweet potatoes. Sauté together for about 5 minutes, adding cinnamon and pepper to taste.

4. Add the squash, plus the fresh ginger and a spoonful of chipotle sauce. Stir everything together, then add vegetable stock. If it's not enough to cover everything, add a little more water or stock until the vegetables are just covered.

5. Let the whole pot simmer on medium heat until the sweet potatoes are cooked through and break apart when you poke them with a fork.

6. Blend it all together (I usually wait till it's cooled off a bit, because this is the step where I usually burn myself). Add more spices to taste.

7. Top with goat cheese and cilantro.

And voila! You're done.