Blackened Snapper and Sweet Potato and Bacon Soup

Blackened red snapper is delicious. If you haven’t yet tried it, I highly recommend it. We enjoyed this meal with Meyer lemon martinis.

In creating the blackened snapper, I wondered what I would pair with it, as I wanted something different from collard greens or kale. I came across the recipe for sweet potato soup on Pinterest (what a great resource for finding recipes, right?), and I decided that I would put these two together, modifying the recipes a little so they would fit the needs of our family.

I’m glad I did.

The soup, adapted from the Cook With B blog, was phenomenal – but it was also really easy to make. You start by nuking 2 pounds of sweet potatoes cut in half in the microwave for 15 minutes. While that’s going on, crisp up 8 or so slices of bacon. I went with a little more, because, well bacon. When the bacon was crisp, I removed it and placed it on a paper towel to absorb the grease. Then, I removed all the bacon fat except for about a tablespoon – saving it in a jar for later cooking. I sautéed onions in the fat and added cumin and red pepper flakes when the onions were translucent. I also added a half of a cup of white wine to deglaze the pan. Once I scraped up the browned bits, I added chicken broth. Following the broth, I allowed the mixture to boil while I removed the skins from the cooked sweet potatoes. Once the broth had boiled, I combined half of it and half of the sweet potatoes at a time in a blender. I served the soup with grated cheddar cheese and the bacon crumbled over the top.

It was a most splendid meal. The snapper recipe I referred to can be found at The Modern Cook blog. It was quite good!

What would you have paired with this meal?

Related articles

• Bean & Bacon Country Stew.
• Potato Soup
• Sweet Potato, Carrot, Apple, and Red Lentil Soup
• My Quick Potato Soup
• Asian Pulled Pork Soup