Roast Sweet Potato Soup

This autumn has been much cooler than previous year. I find I am already pulling out the woollen jumpers from the wardrobe in May. When the weather turns cold, I love to add soups to my repertoire to warm the body and soul. I have my usual soup recipes - roast pumpkin, chicken and corn, mushroom, minestrone, chicken and vegetable, beef and vegetable - but have never ventured from those.

Today, I made this roast sweet potato soup for dinner to accompany the free-form pork and apple pie (recipe by Matt Moran from June 2012's Masterchef Magazine). The method is similar to the roast pumpkin soup, except for the maple syrup that is drizzled together with the the olive oil.

I made my own chicken stock using a piece of chicken breast with 1 onion and 1 teaspoon of black peppercorns plus water into a stockpot and boil for about 1 hour.

Once the stock is ready and the roast vegetables are cool, I use a stick blender to process all ingredients together until a smooth texture. Season with salt and cracked black pepper then serve with a drizzle of cream on top.

Here's the free-form pork and apple pie. I like the free-form. No pie tin required.

Chicken Pie

Whilst my girls are happy to eat Asian dishes like rice and noodles, they also like to have Western style meals too. Too many days of rice and they will start to protest. Since I still had some shortcrust pastry left from making quiche lorraine, I decided to make chicken pies for dinner.

Chicken breast fillets, cut into cubes
1 leek, thinly slice the white part only
1 carrot, cut into half and sliced
fresh button mushrooms, cut into quarters
chicken stock
corn flour, mixed with water for thickening
salt, sugar and pepper
1 egg, beaten for brushing pie tops

1. Heat a medium size pan, add about 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the sliced leek and fry till brown.
2. Add in the sliced carrots and fry for about 5 minutes, then add the chicken to brown.
3. When chicken is brown, add in the mushrooms and chicken stock. Season with salt, sugar and pepper.
4. Close pan with lid and lower heat to simmer. Leave to simmer for about 15 minutes.
5. Add the corn flour mixture to thicken. When the mixture thickens, remove from heat and leave to cool. 
6. Pre-heat oven to 180C. Grease the pie tins.
7. Cut the shortcrust pastry to size and line the pie tin. Prick the pastry with a fork and blind bake for 10 mins.
8. Place the chicken mixture on the pie and seal with another piece of pastry, that has been cut to size.
9. Prick a hole in the centre and brush the top of the pie with egg-wash.
10. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
11. Serve hot.