Potato Soup.
I’m into simple recipes. Perhaps you have noticed. I don’t like complication. I don’t like lots of tiny ingredients that I don’t regularly have on hand. And I don’t like recipes that are time consuming. Perhaps if I found cooking as stress-relieving as I find painting my nails, I would enjoy time-consuming recipes. But I don’t.
I like potato soup. And with my above mentioned opinions…this one ROCKS!
Potato Soup
8-9 medium/large potatoes, peeled and diced (I have used both Russett and Yukon Gold with success, and by medium/large, I mean the ones that size from the ten pound bag, not the bakers you buy individually. I imagine you could use about 4 of those mosters.)
1 can chicken broth (Or 3-4 bullion cubes work just fine, too, in the absence of broth.)
A slice of onion, diced (Slice? Just depends how much you like onion.)
A smidge of garlic (probably a clove for those of you who keep fresh garlic, it’s a half teaspoon for those of you who keep a jar of garlic in your fridge like I do.)
A quart of half-n-half
Salt and pepper to taste
Shredded cheddar and crackers for garnishing.
Peel and dice the potatoes. Dice the onion slice. In a big stock pot combine chicken broth, potatoes, onion and garlic. Add water, just barely to cover the potatoes. Cover with a lid. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and continue to boil (still covered with a lid) until potatoes are soft (about 20 minutes).
Remove from heat. DO NOT DRAIN (this is a very important step). With a masher, or if you don’t have a masher, a big fork or spoon will suffice, lightly mash the mixture. By “lightly”, I mean mash it so it gets potatoey instead of watery, but still leave some good diced potato pieces. You can tell when you’re doing it, I promise.
Add half-n-half. The whole quart. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can taste it now. It’s already really yummy. Sometimes after I have added the half-n-half, I decide it needs a bit more mashing. You might, too. Return to a very low heat - you don’t want it to boil again, you just want to heat it through. Sometimes returning it to a low heat isn’t even necessary…but you have to judge how hot you like your soup.
Serve with shredded cheddar and crackers. (And crescent rolls, if you like those.)
For a little variation, it’s quite good to add some cooked and diced bacon or ham. I also really like adding scallions (that’s diced green onions, if you’re new to this). Or if you have a family that won’t eat vegetables and you need to use guerilla tactics, I imagine you could add some veggies and get away with it, too. But for real, I just like mine plain. I’m a purist. I think I’ve mentioned that before. A few times.
For not liking to cook, you sure do an awesome job! And I agree, the best tasting dinners are often the ones with the most basic ingredients. Now that my kids are grown, I’ve gotten even more basic: Remove wrapper from Cream fillied Taskycakes and place on a lovely plate, pour a giant glass of milk & enjoy!
An entire quart of half’n'half?? Gotta love that.
Mmmmm. Looks good. If Brad were going to make this, he’d just eat a raw potato and drink broth and half & half, except he’d substitute skim.
I love raw potatoes! I’d eat one now, except I’d have to leave my house again. Laziness always wins.
That’s a very white dinner. Pastor Nelson used to say it was very Norwegian to eat a plate full of white food.
There’s yellow. the cheese. Hm.
We just throw a pound of cheese right in it - yummm. I think we need to make this again soon!
I love jarred garlic. I’m sure the fresh thing is much better. Especially if it’s right out of your own garden, grown with tender loving care. But I love not having to peel & chop the stuff! Yay for jars of garlic!