Creamy Smoked Salmon Soup

Today was a busy day. Up at 5.30am, prepping for a day at the shopping centre demonstrating the Thermomix, on my feet all day, home at 5.30pm just in time to make dinner for my hungry family... Oops, forgot to thaw out the chicken. So I popped in to the shop and grabbed a packet of smoked salmon to make a quick soup. My kids are addicted to smoked salmon. Okay, so am I.

I had a vague idea of a creamy, smoked salmon soup, without the cream (of course!), based on the smoked salmon soup in the Thermomix Seafood Cookbook. Here's what I came up with... we loved it. (By the way, I also sauteed some veges and grilled some fish that was in the fridge, because my husband - unlike me - does not consider soup a meal!)

Dinner's done, magnesium drink and hot shower for the leg cramps from standing all day (ouch!), and now I'm veging out in front of the computer with a cup of tea and some gluten free brownies, blogging. And I'm pretty sure there's Co Yo in my future, once the kids go to bed and I can eat it undiscovered... ;)

1. Grind up in Thermomix on speed 9 for 10 seconds:

- 200g raw cashews

2. Add water and blend on speed 9 for 1 minute:

- 800g water

3. Add and cook on 90 degrees for 20 minutes on speed 1:

- 600g orange sweet potatoes, chopped in 1 inch pieces

- 100g tomato paste

- 3 Tblspns chicken stock paste (or vegetable stock paste)

4. Blend on speed 9 for 20 seconds, then add salmon (reserving a little for garnish if you like) and stir in gently on speed 3:

- 200g smoked salmon, sliced into thin strips

5. Garnish individual bowls with salmon strips and sliced shallot or chives or dill:

- 1 shallot or some chives, sliced finely

Or

- finely chopped dill

The thickness of this soup depends on how much potato you use - we like it really thick, so I use 600g potato, but reduce the amount of potato if you like it thinner. You can also alter the amount of stock paste to make it to your taste. The amount of smoked salmon is up to you really - I buy 200g of the chopped smoked salmon (as opposed to the thin slices) for cooking, as it's a bit cheaper.

Oh yay, kids are in bed - CO YO TIME!!

Night night :)