As I spent Friday afternoon in the dentist's chair again (having five freeze injections to put one tooth to sleep), and Ryoma was also drilled to within an inch of his life, soft food has once again been the only thing on the menu these past couple of days. So, soup! This time a nice sweet potato one. It's so easy that you could do it blindfolded. Well, perhaps not blindfolded... never wise to keep your eyes closed for very long whilst using sharp kitchen knives. Not wise to close them at all really. Anyway, this will feed four and it is very tasty indeed. Yum!

Ingredients:

2 oz (50 g) butter

2 medium onions, finely chopped

1 chubby garlic clove

½ heaped tsp grated fresh ginger

1 lb (450 g) sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

8 oz (225 g) carrots, peeled and diced

1 heaped tbsp chopped coriander, plus a few leaves to garnish

juice of 2 limes

1½ pts (850 ml) vegetable stock (made from Marigold Swiss bouillon powder)

freshly ground black pepper

Cooking Instructions:

Begin by melting the butter in a heavy-based pan. Add the onion, garlic and grated ginger and cook for about 5 minutes. Next, add the chopped carrots and sweet potatoes, give everything a stir, then allow them to sweat over a very low heat for 15 minutes.

When the 15 minutes are up, add the coriander, lime juice, stock and a seasoning of pepper, bring to the boil and then simmer for 35 minutes (see photo below).

Next, transfer everything to a blender and give it a good whoosh. Return the soup to the pan and reheat until it is piping hot, then serve with a couple of coriander leaves on top. See, I told you it was simple. Yum!

Bon appétit!