Andre's Tasty Tidbits: Sweet Potato and Seafood Soup

It's time for soup!

I'm not sure if you have noticed but it's getting cold! Those dog days of summer are disappearing in the rearview mirrors of life and those cool, crisp days of fall are here.

Colorful leaves, pumpkins and football, oh yes, cold weather is upon us!

To keep you warm this fall, I have a great recipe that will make your family and friends think you slaved in the kitchen for hours. I won't tell if you don't tell, but this recipe only takes about 20-25 minutes tops to make. Today I'm going to teach you how to make my creamed sweet potato and seafood soup. Here's what you will need:

1 quart of heavy cream

1 pint of half and half

½ pound of scallops

½ pound of shrimp

4 sweet potatoes

½ cup of light brown sugar

1 ½ teaspoons of cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 tablespoon of Old Bay seasoning

1 tablespoon of garlic powder

2 tablespoons of season salt

Once you have all of these out on your counter, here is what you need to do:

First you need to peel and dice your sweet potatoes and put them into a medium sized pot of boiling water. Let them boil for about 12-15 minutes over a high flame. Once the potatoes have finished boiling, drain all the water off of them and in the same pot, add the brown sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix everything together.

While you are mixing the sweet potatoes in the pot, in a separate pot have the heavy cream and half and half warming over a medium flame. Add the sweet potatoes to the heavy cream and bring to a light boil and then, add the cayenne pepper, Old Bay, garlic powder and season salt. After you have mixed the seasonings into the cream, you can add the shrimp and scallops.

Once you have dropped your seafood into the pot, turn the flame off, cover the pot and let the soup sit for at least 15 minutes. The temperature of the soup will cook the seafood.

This recipe makes for a great appetizer, a light lunch or dinner or just a mid-day snack! Your family and friends will thank you for this sweet and spicy soup.

If you try this recipe, let me know how it turns out. You can reach me by e-mail at andre.taylor@patch.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

Until then, keep on burnin'!