Monday, July 6, 2009

Herbed Potato Soup

We eat a lot of soup around here, and no complaints :)

I've found that especially after a long work week, though I love special dishes for certain dinners, there's nothing quite as satisfying...and simple...as soup and some great snuggling with my hubby. It's a great slow AND fast food, and can be tweaked to what's on hand in the kitchen fairly easily. Couch time on the fly equals a date, to us, so I made us some comfort food and we caught a bit of Good Neighbors and Foyle's War (thank you, inter-library DVD loans). Soup's one of our favorite easy eats...this one featured the potato, and was easy.

I don't have a regular blender or food processor, but do have an immersion blender (those stick blenders you can make smoothies with right in the container). If someone has none of those, a handheld potato masher would do the trick pretty well, too, but the potatoes would have to be peeled ones only or you'll have big pieces of skin in there.

This is just a basic potato soup, very unscientific as to proportions of this and that. I like the combination of flavors rich with basil. Ingredients can be adjusted to include ones that are on hand, and bits of this and that. Here's what went into mine this weekend...

Rich Basil Potato Soup (ha, it's just potato soup with basil and some spices)

Several white or yellow potatoes (6-10) depending on size and preference, scrubbed and cubed (mine are unpeeled)
Several carrots, chopped
Several celery ribs and tops, chopped
Onion, chopped
One red sweet pepper, chopped
Large can chicken stock

Spices:
Dried or fresh basil, lots
Garlic powder
Parsley
Pepper and Salt
Cayenne
Dash of oregano
Few dashes hot sauce

Add later:
Several dabs of real butter
Whole milk

Cook all ingredients together, covered, in heavy soup pot, except spices and milk and butter, till all veggies are tender. Add a little water if there's not enough liquid just to cover. Stir to make sure nothing sticks.

When all is cooked tender, put stick blender down in pot and blend ingredients till desired consistency...I like it almost, but not all liquified. Turn down heat to low setting, and stir in butter and enough milk to thin soup to consistency you desire (I'm generous with the milk).

Add spices, adjusting to your own taste. I prefer a lot of garlic and basil and enough cayenne to warm the tastebuds. Heat a while longer, stirring frequently, then serve. This does even better after cooled and refrigerated overnight to allow flavors to mingle.
I like to serve this in bowls very hot with some shredded cheese added to each bowl just when serving, or with hot cheese toast.

This is a keeper now...we liked this well enough to have it added to the Tried 'n True category, mmm :)

For further experimentation, I'm thinking of making this with the same ingredients next time, omitting the basil and oregano, and adding chopped spinach and parmesan.

Update: Did the spinach number with the next batch, and froze some...we'll see how well it stands up to freezing. It was good but not as good as plain potato-cheese soup or the basil version above.

Good ol' potatoes...the poor man's riches! :)

7 comments:

Wendy said...

I love soup - all kinds, but potato is probably my favorite for its rich creaminess. MMM .... Soup with a bit of fresh bread ... nothing better ;). During the winter, we eat soup almost every day.

Sue said...

Ha, what great timing-I had potato soup for lunch yesterday.
And lucky you having an immersion blender...been wanting one of those, but too cheap to shell out the money!

Lemongrass said...

Soups are fun to make and can be taken in any direction. I love potato carrot soup. I flavor them with curry, cumin, lemongrass or tumeric. Just before I turn off the fire I hand a cup of fresh corn. When my herb is in full blast, I harvest a bunch of herbs, blend them in a food processor and freeze them in ice trays......two cubes added to the soup is heavenly.

Michelle said...

Thanks for the inspiration; we're in a cool spell, I have some tired potatoes to use up, and soup sounds good!

Anonymous said...

Yummy potato soup! We just dug up the purple potatoes yesterday so I'll have to make this tonite!

Anonymous said...

Ok, I made is tonite instead of last - SO YUMMY!! A definate keeper. =)

Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!

Robbyn said...

Wendy, meee too...and now I'm hungry for it again!

Sue...Jack picked it up on sale once because it was cheaper than buying a regular blender. My dream item that remains on the wish list now for years is a Kitchenaid mixer, wooo!

Lemongrass, that sounds wonderful...making notes for my next batch!

Michelle, it's so funny but I like potato soup even when it's hot out...guess I just like my carbs :)

Annette...ohhhh I'd love to try purple potatoes...so glad it turned out!!