Easy Potato Soup

This recipe is adapted from a couple of other recipes I checked out. I scanned, made a in-my-head grocery list, and then got down to business. So feel free to add or subtract items. I like the danger of cooking without a formal recipe. (Except for baking, of course.)

Total time: 1 hour
Cost: who cares? It’s cheap.

First: fill a stew (like a big one you’d make a big batch of pasta in) pot up with water, enough to consume the potatoes you’re going to boil. Heat to boil on stove. Meanwhile… prep your stuff.

Main Ingredients:
– 3 Russet (or new, or yukon gold, or whatever you like, pick your poison) potatoes, peeled & cut to 1/2 inch chunks.
– 2 leeks. (Do you like onions? If yes, go 2. If not-so-much, go 1.) Peel the outside couple -a- layers off, wash thoroughly (IMPORTANT: leeks are notorious for holding muddy gunk). Cut the whiskers off at the bottom, then cut the other side off where they turn greenish. sliced thinly
– 1/4 onion (yellow or white), rough dice
– 4 cloves garlic, minced
– 2 bay leaves (for later)
– celery seed (a teeny bit)
– 1 can cream of celery soup
– 1 shallot (optional), mined or sliced, whatev
– 2 Tbsp butter
– 2 Tbsp (ish, add as needed) olive oil
– 2 stalks green onion. Trim the whiskers and funky green off. Slice.
– Chicken broth (you may need about 1/2 of one of those cartons, so get a big one and re-use it on something else later)

Optional (to taste):
– 2 Bay leaves (optional) for flavor
– Celery seed (optional, just a splash)
– salt & pepper (duh, to taste)

Alright, so you’ve mad it this far. Good for you. Let’s do this.
Once you get your water boiling, add the potatoes and cook until soft. What is soft? Well, you should be able to EASILY push through a piece of potato with a fork. Still not sure? Rinse a bit of potato under cold water for a bit, and then taste. Careful! Potatoes hold lots and lots of heat. Is it crunchy? Then cook until it’s soft!

After you’re satisfied with the cooked-ness of the potatoes, lower the burner to a low simmer setting and drain the potatoes off in to a colander. Set aside.

Now on to the good stuff. Add olive oil and butter to that same stew pot.
Add the leeks, onion, garlic, bay leaves, shallot on medium-ish heat. Should be a smooth simmer (did you turn the burner down to 3-ish?). Simmer for 15 minutes.

Then when you think all those ingredients have softened, add 6 oz. (eye-ball it) chicken broth. Let that hang out for a few more minutes, then add the can of cream of celery soup and stir until smooth. Then add potatoes back in to the pot. Stir. Then, with a masher, or whatever you have sitting around, smash up the potatoes a FEW times. You don’t want your potatoes all smashed crazy, do you? That’s what I thought.

Stir everything together at this point, and then add about 8 more oz of chicken broth. Stir again, and find the consistency that you think the soup should be. Don’t worry if it’s a little bit runny at this point, because you can always reduce it. Now turn the heat down a little bit more… to a near-low setting.

Hang out and wait 20 minutes, stirring the soup occasionally.

Eat, player! Add some shredded cheddar and a dollop of sour cream to your bowl. Enjoy!

-B-

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *