Daring Bakers Tuile Challenge - Paired with Sweet Potato Soup with Mushrooms and Sage Sausage

I would first like to say how incredibly stoked I am to be in the Daring Bakers community. People from all over the world make the same recipe for a month at a time and share their results. Just another shining example of how food makes us all equals and happier people.

This is my first daring baker challenge and I am happy not only to have accomplished it, but I am also thrilled that it inspired me to make my first from-scratch sweet potato soup. This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and
Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux. However, I did the Savory tuile/cornet recipe From Thomas Keller "the French Laundry Cookbook".

I basically had three tries at making my savory tuiles. First round, pictured above just to get my bearings on the batter. Looking back, I see that it was a bit too thick but that is a lesson learned for the future. My second attempt I did thin out a bit and used some coarse black pepper for color and flavor. The original recipe I used called for black sesame seeds, so in lieu of those I used the pepper. My third attempt was the best. I used more pepper because the few shakes in round 2 just did not cut it and I think they came out lovely.

The second part of the challenge was to pair your tuile with something light. Since I started savory, I ended it savory. I can not explain my unending love for the sweet potato, so I'm not going to try. I had a hankering to make a sweet potato soup with lots of flavors like the traditional spices of ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg but I also wanted an earthiness because I think one of the sweet potato profiles is earthy seeing it grows there and all. That's how sage came into the picture. Its so fragrant and lovely that I think I found a wonderful companion for the sweet potato. Ok, and the sage sausage probably helped to. As you can see in the picture, my savory tuile was a large, buttery crouton for my soup and I so indulged in every single bite.

Recipe for Sweet Potato Soup with Mushrooms and Sage Sausage:

• 2 Tblsp. of all purpose flour
• 2 Tblsp. of butter
• 3 cups of peeled, cooked, cut sweet potato
• 2 Tblsp of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 small sweet onion
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 2 Tblsp. of light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 lb. of sage sausage
• 1 cup baby portobello mushrooms
• 5-7 whole sage leaves
• 1.5 cups of milk
• salt and pepper
• red pepper flakes

1. Peel, cut and cook the sweet potatoes. Set aside.
2. Chop celery, and onion and sautee in a medium-hot pan with the olive oil before onions begin to brown. Set aside.
3. Make a rue with the flour and butter.
4. When you achieve a light caramel color, stir in the stock and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and add sweet potatoes, celery and onion, and spices. Cook 7 minutes more at the simmer.
5. Add (and take out) your soup in batches in the food processor to puree to your desired texture.
6. Add back to your sauce pot on stove top on lowest heat.
7. Stir in the 1.5 cup of milk.
8. In a large pan over medium-high heat, add some oil and get it hot. Add chopped mushrooms, bits of sausage, sage, pinches of the light brown sugar, and red pepper flakes. Cook until mushrooms and sausage are done, about 5 minutes.
9. Add mixture to soup. Cook 2 minutes more.
10. Garnish with sage leaves and tuile and serve!