Curried Sweet Potato Bisque

Step 2 Prepare thyself...err...thy ingredients.

Actually, preparing thyself is not a bad idea .  So put on some nice music, wash your hands and clear your mind in preparation for this therapeutic portion of the recipe.  While you are washing your hands, it is a good idea to wash your vegetables as well.  I mean honestly, do you know where those have been?  I did not think so.  OK, now that your hands and vegetables are in a state that is often referred to as "next to godliness", grab ye olde vegetable peeler and remove the skin from the sweet potatoes.  Do not worry, this does not hurt them, they in fact, prefer to lounge about in a skinless state, but lack the utensils or opposable digits to do this for themselves, so really you are doing them a favor. You may also choose to reserve a few slivers of sweet potato at this point to use as garnish later.  I did this and then forgot to add them for the pictures, sorry about that.

As an aside, if you choose, you could make this recipe leaving the skins on, which adds nutrients, but I find it adds a grittiness to the final product that no amount of simmering can remove, so I skin them.

Now that you have a lovely grouping of sweet potatoes, sans skins, it is time to chop the vegetables.  This time you do not want to clear your mind, you want to focus.  Chopping is a dangerous business, so you simply must be careful.  I have chopped a great many things in my time and pride myself as a chopper of note, but while making this very recipe before the holidays, I let my mind wander and I now have a lovely scar and no feeling whatsoever in my right thumbtip.  So let my carelessness stand as a warning to you all.

Seriously, be careful and chop your potatoes, peppers and onions to your heart's content.  The smaller you chop the pieces the less time it will take for them to cook in the broth, but the longer it will take to chop them, so you have to make your own decision on how to handle things.  As you can see from the pictures, I left my veggies in fairly large pieces, but I had plenty of time and I love having a pot simmering on the stove.  You will also note that I used both red and yellow peppers, this choice was based purely on the fact that I was prepping another dish that needed a half and half mix, and you should in no way feel obligated to follow my example in this.  Although, it does make for a more interesting photograph.

Now that you have done your time on the chopping block, let's get down to the real business...