Sweet Potato Soup with Beet Green Hazelnut Pesto

Oh my dear neglected blog. I'm so sorry to have been gone so long. Happy new year. Happy new food. I've been accumulating photos for the last few months of silence. The cooking hadn't stopped even if the writing down of recipes had. Or, at least the translation of scribbles on scraps of paper written hastily once something successful emerges from my kitchen into something digital and legible to people who are not me.

Here's to starting back up, with something unusual, super yummy, and yet still healthy. What a better way to enter back in to things?

(ah, cheers to procrastination.)

This dish was the result of remnants from my veggie box. I swear, local CSA vegetable boxes are the best way to force creativity and healthy eating. I've found myself cooking with ingredient that I didn't even know were ingredients until a year ago or so. Like radish greens. Or beet greens. All I know is that I've been missing out on good things. Seriously good things. Maybe you already knew this. I'm just happy to finally learn.

Beet Green and Hazelnut Pesto
1/3 cup hazelnuts
1 bunch beet greens (greens from 4 or 5 beets)
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of one juicy lime
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp grated parmesean, packed
2 colves garlic

For the pesto:

Toast the hazelnuts in a pan on the stove over medium heat, stirring often. The nuts are done when they start to become aromatic. It's a quick turn between aromatic and burnt, so watch closely.
Toss nuts and all remaining pesto ingredients into a food processor and blend. This is a really thick pesto (in order to keep the oil down) so you will have to scrape the sides down multiple times. You can add more oil for a more spreadable result. This pesto will spoon as a ball but not spread.

Sweet Potato Soup
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, smooshed
1 serrano pepper, finely chopped
3 yams or sweet potatoes, cubed (with skin on)
1 tsp ground cumin
4 cups water (more if you want a thinner soup)
zest and juice of one lime
2 Tbsp grated ginger

For the Soup:
Heat the oil in the thick bottomed pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and saute gently until golden (about 10 minutes).
Add the garlic and pepper and keep sauteing until the garlic become golden (only a minute or so).
Toss in yams and cumin and cook, covered, until the yams begin to get soft, stirring occasionally.
Once the yams are soft, add water and bring to as boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer until the yams begin to fall apart (just a few minutes).
Add lime and ginger and simmer for one more minute.
Remove from heat. Blend until smooth. Serve with a dollop of the pesto.