Sweet Potato, Spinach and Chorizo Soup

I don't know why it took me so long to realize this, but... I like hearty soups. Chili. Gumbo. Chicken. Bean. Lentil. Bouillabaisse. Matzoh Ball. Anything pureed or "cream of" (Pea. Cauliflower. Mushroom. Tomato.) is, in my mind, either not so good for you, or it has me shuddering at the memory of my liquid fasts of '09. Yep, I'm a proud chewer. I bore easily! Slurping - it's the same repetitive motion (spoon, elevate, blow, slurp, swallow) and the same repetitive taste over and over again (mmm pea soup [repeat] oh yeah wow that's pea soup [repeat] is that pea soup? [repeat] and so on...). With a chunkier soup, I'm thinking you taste more flavors, more textures, just more of it. 

With the NYC marathon behind us and the cold weather upon us, on a Wednesday in the middle of the workday, I went straight from a Funeral Mass at a church in Bensonhurst to the butcher's counter at Los Paisanos on Smith Street to buy 10 ounces of Spanish chorizo. Just a luxurious day spent with a very sharp knife. The kind of day I could get used to. With the radio tuned to today's new music (of which I felt no shame), I sliced onions thinner than paper, cut through sweet potatoes with familiar ease, ripped the stems off spinach leaves (because I'm anal and the stems drive me crazy), put the effort in to take good pictures, but to make it seem like I hadn't...

This is my favorite soup. I've made it before and it always turns out great. If some chef in some fancy restaurant takes an immersion blender to it, I'll be pissed. 

Come hither and peep my satchel. In it, you'll see 2 large sweet potatoes, 4 small white potatoes, and some garlic.

I also have 2 onions and 2 bunches of spinach.

Now focus your attention on the 10 oz of chorizo.

Slice.

You'll need to heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a heavy pot. 

Cook and stir the chorizo until it's nice and brown. Like crispy brown. 

With a slotted spoon, remove the chorizo from the pot and transfer to paper towels. Leave the chorizo oil BE.

Chop up as much garlic as you want. 

Slice the onions. (Or chop. But I prefer the slice because I like to see the onions in the soup.)

Add the onions and garlic to the chorizo oil heaven.

Stir. 

Chop your potatoes!

Add them to the pot. Stir until soft. 

Add 6 cups stock and bring it to a boil. Then let it simmer until potatoes are even softer. Say 20 minutes. 

Now we're talking. Chorizo in soup.

There's no need to be anal like me and chop your stems, but... do you really like stems in your soup?!

Serious crowding. 

Magic.

Last minute decision, but a smart one. Lots of pinches. 

Salt / pepper. Done. 

Max tested, mother approved.