Sweet Potato and Rosemary Soup Featuring Ham, Gruyere and Apple Paninis

Have I mentioned how much I love Giada De Laurentiis? Because if I haven't (which I'm sure I have) I love her so much. I think I might be in love with her. That skinny bitch. No seriously, I love everything about her, even that she can stay so skinny and beautiful when she cooks such rich and delicious recipes. I love to cook too and I sure as heck can't stay that skinny. Anyway, today's recipes are brought to you directly from Giada. I saw her make these recipes on her show Giada at Home a couple of years back and I decided to cook exactly what she made that show all on one day and it was probably one of the best days of my life. No joke. The soup complimented the paninis so perfectly, this will be your new favorite "comfort food" (no offense to tomato soup and grilled cheese, but we play for keeps over here at Food Talk at Five).
Anyway, enough rambling, let's get to the recipes...

Creamy Sweet Potato and Rosemary Soup: Courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis.

Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature (salted is fine too, just cut down on the salt later)
3 Tablespoons olive oil
3 large or 6 small shallots (I can never find large ones, so I always use 6 small)
2 to 3 cloves minced garlic
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
2 pounds (about 2-3) sweet potatoes, peeled, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 (6 inch long) stems fresh rosemary
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I always use low-sodium, something I learned from Giada)
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
3 Tablespoons maple syrup

Directions:

Chop up all your sweet potatoes first, this part takes the longest and you'll need to have them ready to chuck in the pot when the time comes.

The recipe says to use an 8 quart stock pot, I use a dutch oven, so use whatever tickles your fancy or whatever is in your cupboards. In your chosen pot, melt butter and oil together over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook until the shallots are soft, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes, rosemary and chicken broth and add a little more salt and pepper to taste.

Bring this mixture to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are soft, about 20 to 25 minutes. Once the potatoes are tender, turn off the heat and remove the rosemary stems. Most of the rosemary leaves will probably be left in the soup, don't worry, you'll take care of them in the next step. Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture until smooth and thick. If you don't have an immersion blender, just put the soup into a blender in small batches and pour back into the pot until everything is blended up nice and smooth. And thick. Whisk in the mascarpone and maple syrup. Season with more salt and pepper to taste.

Keep the soup warm over low heat until ready to serve. Okay, onto the paninis...

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons unsalted better (let's be honest here, most of us use regular salted butter, so just go nuts)
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
1 Tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves (or dried, but in a smaller quantity)
8 (1/2 inch thick) slices white bread (or whatever bread you want)
1/2 cup whole grain mustard
2 cups shredded Gruyere
8 slices Black Forest ham

Melt butter in a skillet and add apples and thyme. Sautee until the apples are soft, about 4 minutes, then cool for 5 minutes. Preheat panini press. Spread 1 tablespoon of mustard on each slice of bread. Add 1/4 cup of cheese on four of the bread slices and top with 2 slices of ham. Top with apples.

Add the remaining cheese on top of the apples and top with the remaining four bread slices. Place in the panini press and grill until the cheese has melted and the bread is golden and crispy, about 5 to 6 minutes.

(Not the best picture, I know). Here they are, all nice and squished :)

There you go. A perfect Sunday lunch. When Giada made these she also made Oatmeal, Cranberry and Chocolate Chunk Cookies. You should make those too. You won't regret it.

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Take care my faithful followers, I love you all..

xoxo

Ash