Creamy Sweet Potato Soup plus holiday photos

This creamy soup is lovely served with freshly baked bread warm from the oven. I am still harvesting squash direct from my allotment so this soup couldn't taste more fresh and seasonal. P.S please scroll down for a few of my holiday photos.

Ingredients:

500g peeled sweet potato cut into chunks

2 medium red onions sliced

2 large sprigs of fresh rosemary

Handful of fresh chives

1 tbsp sunflower oil

Small knob butter

700ml vegetable stock

120ml single cream

Freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1.      Heat sunflower oil in large pan, add onion and fry gently for approx 5 minutes until beginning to soften.

2.      Add sweet potato chunks to the pan with the knob of butter and fry gently, stirring frequently for 2/3 minutes.

3.      Pour stock into pan and add rosemary sprigs and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Bring to the boil then cover and simmer for 25/30 minutes.

4.      Allow to cool slightly, remove rosemary twigs (the leaves should have come away) then blend in a liquidiser until smooth.

5.      Return to clean pan, add cream and heat through gently.

6.      Serve with a swirl of cream and sprinkle with finely chopped chives.

Holiday Snaps from Devon 2011

On Monday 24/10/11 there was a huge storm in the south west which caused localised flooding. The wind and rain was so intense that it kept many seabirds at the shore. When the rain cleared in the evening we stood on the beach at Devon Cliffs (Littleham) and saw hundreds of sea birds heading out to sea. I cannot explain what an incredible spectacle this was. The sky was clouded with birds including different breeds of gulls, numerous cormorants and a great skua.

We took a long walk along the coast from Exmouth to Budleigh Salderton. This is the clifftop view looking towards the pebble covered beach cove at Budleigh. From this vantage point it was possible to see Portland through binoculars.

A panoramic shot near the halfway post between Exmouth and Budleigh Salderton. This shows the view back towards Exmouth estuary. We walked in the early morning and saw several birds of prey including 2 buzzards getting into a scrap with 2 sparrowhawks and several crows! Whilst walking to Budleigh Salderton we also saw two tiny Goldcrests, the smallest bird in Europe - a first for me and one of 5 new bird species I saw on the trip.