Sweet Potato and Pear Soup

Fall and winter vegetables lend themselves to pureed soups so well. I suppose because they're orange, sweet potatoes and butternut squash feel interchangeable to me in many recipes. Like the Smoky Butternut squash and Apple Soup I made recently, this pairs sweet potato with pear. It's a pretty simple soup that comes together in under an hour. For a nice smoky-spicy kick, sprinkle it with Tabasco's chipotle hot sauce.

Sweet Potato and Pear Soup

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into thin (less than 1/4-inch thick) slices
2 pears, peeled, cored and diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
Salt (or seasoned salt), to taste
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth (may substitute vegetable broth)
Greek yogurt (nonfat or low-fat)
1/4 cup fresh chopped chives
Chipotle hot sauce (optional)

1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or large soup pot over medium heat. Add sweet potatoes, pears, garlic and ginger, season with salt, and sauté mixture for about 5 minutes until aromatic and the potatoes start to soften around the edges.

2. Add cumin, cinnamon, smoked paprika and chicken broth. Increase heat to medium-high and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes until the sweet potatoes are soft. Puree mixture using an immersion blender or transfer in batches to puree in a blender. Serve in shallow bowls topped with a dollop of Greek yogurt, a sprinkle of chives and, if desired, a few squirts of smoky hot sauce.