Potato Soup
Apr. 25th, 2010 04:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
appleadayMy husband doesn't like potato soup. Detests it. Some childhood drama involved there, but he's sure, he doesn't like potato soup.
He likes THIS, I tell him. This is nothing like potato soup as he envisions it. This has cheese and bacon, and is like a loaded baked potato (which he doesn't like as much as me, either - Heathen!) but he is persuaded to go along.
As I dice and stir and mess around in the kitchen, forcing him to help, he says, "This is your way of getting me to eat more green vegetables, isn't it?" I just smile and tell him they're like onions and he'll like it.
And when I'm done, he does. Yeah, me!
So, I wanted to tell someone about it, and most of all, I wanted to preserve the making of it, so that I might go back in the future and possibly make it again. Oh, nothing as mundane as a recipe card with a little note or a folded down corner. I couldn't follow a recipe card to save my life, even the little treasured ones from my grandmother. Oh, no, cooking with me is an adventure.
It always has been. I remember in private school, the girls in my house would always gather round at the weekend to see what crazy concoction I was going to come up with next, and whether they were brave enough to beg for a bite or not. Let me tell you, in high school, my Rum Nut Chocolate Chip cookies were famous.
And never made the exact same way twice.
Which is exceedingly funny, considering I am a Medical Laboratory Scientist in my day (night) job. Which is a very detail-oriented (obsessive compulsive) job, where I repeat procedures over and over (and troubleshoot as necessary) and I am very suited to it, love it even. I just cannot bring that same discipline into cooking.
Which brings me back to the potato soup.
Bacon - I buy the ends and pieces at Wal-Mart. Quite a bit of fat, but I like the thickness and smokiness, and the cheapness, but use what you like. I threw about a pound of this into a dutch oven and browned it up, then removed it.
I threw away most of the grease, reserving just a bit to saute my leeks (a bundle of 3 large ones, a bit much to my taste, compared to the potatoes, will probably reduce next time, but it worked) along with a large shallot and a couple of cloves of garlic diced. Let all of that simmer as you will for a while until it's all tender.
I had washed and prebaked just over 4 lbs of potatoes in a 400 degree oven (directly on the rack). They had a nice flavor, but were a little over cooked and were small, or overcooked because they were small. I would have preferred a better potato to skin ratio). Cut open and spoon out the potato parts. Dump in with your leeks, a couple tablespoons of olive oil (salt, pepper, thyme, etc) and some flour. Mix it all up and simmer some more.
After a bit, add about 48oz of stock/broth of your choice to the pot. Simmer even more.
When it's all hot, I ladled it into my new blender (in two batches), and mostly pureed it all together, then dumped it into my crock pot (yours can go back into your dutch oven, or tureen or whatever - mine was for the next day, so crock pot it was) ****Hey, don't forget to remove that little plastic thingy on the top of your blender lid when blending hot stuff, you can just hold it over to prevent splashing, and watch your hands - but let the steam out, and hey leave a little bit of the lumpy stuff for character****
Into the now soup, I added about 6 oz (I don't know, a big spoonful) of sour cream, about 4-5 scallions cut up, cut up bacon from earlier, and cheese. Only to find out at this point that my darling husband has pretty much used up all of the cheese without telling me. I raided the pantry for a box of Velveeta shells and cheese and shamelessly added the cheese packet to the soup. As a bit of a thickener, and also to bring the potato flavor a bit more to the foreground, I added some dried instant mashed potato flakes.
It was really good. DH even pronounced his love of it. It also required very little seasoning, except for the little bit I added with the potatoes.
Will share with coworkers tomorrow.
ETA: Garnished with a dollop of the remaining sour cream, shredded cheese, scallions and/or chives, real bacon bits and fresh ground pepper.
Recipe' Recap
Disclaimer: As always 'recipe' is a relative term, more of a guideline, really, and your results may vary. Feel free to adjust, experiment as you like. Any resemblance to a real recipe is entirely coincidental and the result of watching too much FoodTV
Loaded Baked Potato Soup
5 lbs baked potatoes, removed from skins
2 lg leeks, sliced
1/2 lb bacon
lg shallot, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, diced
2 Tbs olive oil
1/4 cup flour
salt and pepper
thyme, rosemary or other seasoning
48 oz stock/broth (chicken or vegetable)
8 oz shredded cheese (or cubed velveeta for soup, with some shredded cheese for garnish)
8 oz sour cream
2-3 scallions and/or chives
Fry bacon, remove from pan, reserve small amount of grease (may substitute olive oil for vegetarian). Saute leeks, shallots, and garlic until soft. Add oil, potatoes, seasoning, flour, until flour is dissolved/lightly coating all ingredients. Add stock/broth. Simmer.
Puree most of soup.
Add sour cream, bacon, cheese, reserving some of each for garnish, along with scallions/chives. Simmer until ready to serve.
He likes THIS, I tell him. This is nothing like potato soup as he envisions it. This has cheese and bacon, and is like a loaded baked potato (which he doesn't like as much as me, either - Heathen!) but he is persuaded to go along.
As I dice and stir and mess around in the kitchen, forcing him to help, he says, "This is your way of getting me to eat more green vegetables, isn't it?" I just smile and tell him they're like onions and he'll like it.
And when I'm done, he does. Yeah, me!
So, I wanted to tell someone about it, and most of all, I wanted to preserve the making of it, so that I might go back in the future and possibly make it again. Oh, nothing as mundane as a recipe card with a little note or a folded down corner. I couldn't follow a recipe card to save my life, even the little treasured ones from my grandmother. Oh, no, cooking with me is an adventure.
It always has been. I remember in private school, the girls in my house would always gather round at the weekend to see what crazy concoction I was going to come up with next, and whether they were brave enough to beg for a bite or not. Let me tell you, in high school, my Rum Nut Chocolate Chip cookies were famous.
And never made the exact same way twice.
Which is exceedingly funny, considering I am a Medical Laboratory Scientist in my day (night) job. Which is a very detail-oriented (obsessive compulsive) job, where I repeat procedures over and over (and troubleshoot as necessary) and I am very suited to it, love it even. I just cannot bring that same discipline into cooking.
Which brings me back to the potato soup.
Bacon - I buy the ends and pieces at Wal-Mart. Quite a bit of fat, but I like the thickness and smokiness, and the cheapness, but use what you like. I threw about a pound of this into a dutch oven and browned it up, then removed it.
I threw away most of the grease, reserving just a bit to saute my leeks (a bundle of 3 large ones, a bit much to my taste, compared to the potatoes, will probably reduce next time, but it worked) along with a large shallot and a couple of cloves of garlic diced. Let all of that simmer as you will for a while until it's all tender.
I had washed and prebaked just over 4 lbs of potatoes in a 400 degree oven (directly on the rack). They had a nice flavor, but were a little over cooked and were small, or overcooked because they were small. I would have preferred a better potato to skin ratio). Cut open and spoon out the potato parts. Dump in with your leeks, a couple tablespoons of olive oil (salt, pepper, thyme, etc) and some flour. Mix it all up and simmer some more.
After a bit, add about 48oz of stock/broth of your choice to the pot. Simmer even more.
When it's all hot, I ladled it into my new blender (in two batches), and mostly pureed it all together, then dumped it into my crock pot (yours can go back into your dutch oven, or tureen or whatever - mine was for the next day, so crock pot it was) ****Hey, don't forget to remove that little plastic thingy on the top of your blender lid when blending hot stuff, you can just hold it over to prevent splashing, and watch your hands - but let the steam out, and hey leave a little bit of the lumpy stuff for character****
Into the now soup, I added about 6 oz (I don't know, a big spoonful) of sour cream, about 4-5 scallions cut up, cut up bacon from earlier, and cheese. Only to find out at this point that my darling husband has pretty much used up all of the cheese without telling me. I raided the pantry for a box of Velveeta shells and cheese and shamelessly added the cheese packet to the soup. As a bit of a thickener, and also to bring the potato flavor a bit more to the foreground, I added some dried instant mashed potato flakes.
It was really good. DH even pronounced his love of it. It also required very little seasoning, except for the little bit I added with the potatoes.
Will share with coworkers tomorrow.
ETA: Garnished with a dollop of the remaining sour cream, shredded cheese, scallions and/or chives, real bacon bits and fresh ground pepper.
Recipe' Recap
Disclaimer: As always 'recipe' is a relative term, more of a guideline, really, and your results may vary. Feel free to adjust, experiment as you like. Any resemblance to a real recipe is entirely coincidental and the result of watching too much FoodTV
Loaded Baked Potato Soup
5 lbs baked potatoes, removed from skins
2 lg leeks, sliced
1/2 lb bacon
lg shallot, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, diced
2 Tbs olive oil
1/4 cup flour
salt and pepper
thyme, rosemary or other seasoning
48 oz stock/broth (chicken or vegetable)
8 oz shredded cheese (or cubed velveeta for soup, with some shredded cheese for garnish)
8 oz sour cream
2-3 scallions and/or chives
Fry bacon, remove from pan, reserve small amount of grease (may substitute olive oil for vegetarian). Saute leeks, shallots, and garlic until soft. Add oil, potatoes, seasoning, flour, until flour is dissolved/lightly coating all ingredients. Add stock/broth. Simmer.
Puree most of soup.
Add sour cream, bacon, cheese, reserving some of each for garnish, along with scallions/chives. Simmer until ready to serve.
