We actually had a little bit of time for family Sunday afternoon, and, while chilly, it was a beautiful day. So, we made a fire and some potato soup!
This is a simple, yet crazy delicious, soup method popular at the Ballymoe cooking school in Ireland. You can easily adapt it to highlight almost any vegetable (or mix of veggies), such as carrots, peas, spinach, turnip greens, parsnips, etc. It uses a combination of sweated onions and potatoes, which give the soup a rich flavor base and creamy texture that makes it feel like a cream soup, but without the cream! An important modification to consider would be to add green veggies only at the end, if you want a bright green soup (such as peas, asparagus, or spinach). Otherwise it would likely be an unappealing brown.
It uses a ratio, so you can adjust the size of your ‘parts’ to match how much soup you’d like to make. So much of my limited kitchen time lately has either been baking breads for market and home delivery, or pizza as part of my Pie of the Week project, all carefully measured to the nearest gram. The imprecision of soup was refreshingly liberating! I was making potato soup, so my highlighted veggie was Kennebec potatoes. Purple Viking would have been a great choice as well.
I garnished ours with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, some chive-Parmesan croutons I made out of left over Italian Semolina bread, and the green ends of some Nabuka scallions, to give an extra hit of richness and a contrasting crunch.
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 45 minutes |
| Servings |
varies
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- Butter
- 1 part Onion diced
- 1 part Potatoes peeled and diced (Kennebec or Purple Viking recommended)
- 3 parts Highlighted Veggetable such as potatoes, parsnips, turnips, spinach, carrots
- 5 parts Liquid chicken stock, veggie stock, milk, water, or a combination
- Fresh Herbs or dried, choped
Ingredients
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- Melt the butter a dutch oven or heavy-bottomed stock pot over medium-low heat.
- Add the onion, potatoes, and featured veggies that need to be cooked for a longer time (such as potatoes or root veggies). Season with salt and pepper.
- Put the lid on the pot, and cook, stirring often, until the onion and potatoes are sweated, but have not changed color.
- Add the liquid and any dried herbs you're using, increase heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil, covered.
- Reduce to a low simmer, until potatoes and any root veggies are tender.
- Add fresh herbs (I used chives), and any green veggies, and simmer for another 3-5 minutes, depending on the herbs and veggies used.
- Use an immersion blender (or carefully transfer to a blender or food processor, probably in batches) to blend to desired consistency. It will be creamier and thicker, but obviously have fewer chunks, the more you blend.
- Adjust seasoning, and serve.
Consider garnishing with chopped fresh herbs, grated cheese, homemade croutons, toasted nuts or seeds, etc. to give an extra texture, visual, and flavor contrast.