Crab Soup

This soup of sweet potatoes, crab, and coconut reflects the strong West Indian influence in the Lowcountry. You can make the soup with prepared shellfish stock—I have used lobster shells from the previous night’s dinner—and substitute shrimp or crawfish for the crab. A local chef and I first made this soup for an evening of Lowcountry foods in her restaurant. It is complex in texture and flavor, one of her most requested recipes. I recommend making the soup in the dead of winter, when femal