Tuesday, February 24, 2009

A Simple and Basic Creamy Garlic Potato Soup

2 lbs potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)
2 cups milk (sub some out with cream if you like)
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 a large red onion, diced
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
1 tbl butter

Saute the onions in the butter over medium heat, till they are soft. Add the garlic and the bay leaf and saute for another 30 seconds to a minute. Add the broth, potatoes and milk. Reduce heat to low and let simmer, stirring occasionally, till the potatoes are done. About 30-40 minutes. Remove it from the heat and blend it with an immersion blender. Serve hot with some kind of topping.

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I had never made potato soup before this. Can you believe it? I can't, especially now that I know how easy it is. I hadn't made one of the greatest comfort foods! The mind boggles. Anyway, this recipe is adapted from a couple different ones around the net, changed up to suit my tastes. It's thicker than average (most called for at least five cups of liquid), because I like it thick. I didn't add any additional things to it, except some cheese at the end, because I wanted to start with a blank canvas, so to speak. This soup is great partly because you can add whatever you want to it and partly because it's good just how it is. It's also very rich and creamy with just 2% milk. So it's even low fat! Of course it would be better with some heavy cream, but what isn't? Heh.

First, I got my ingredients together and took a really bad set of pictures. I'm not even going to show them. You're going to have to take my word that I prepped all the veggies, dicing the onion, mincing the garlic and cubing/peeling the potatoes. One other thing that would be good would be to do half and half carrots and potatoes. You would just want to cut the carrots a little smaller, since they cook more slowly. Anyway, then I browned up the onion. Once it was browned I tossed in the garlic and bay leaf. I used two really big cloves for this and it could have used more, in my opinion. Just so you know. Once the garlic was sauteed a bit I poured in the broth, added the potatoes and then the milk. I figured it wouldn't be good to add the milk first since dairy can be delicate and adding the broth would cool everything down. Then I just let everything simmer till it was tender. I don't remember exactly how long it took, I forgot to pay attention. Sorry about that. But once it was done it was time to smooth it out. You'll want to pull out the bay leaf first though. I first tried using a potato masher. It was woefully inadequate. So I just whipped out the immersion blender and that did the trick. Some salt and pepper and that's it, a basic creamy potato soup. Now you can add anything to it you can think of: cheese, bacon, chicken, zucchini, parsley, mushrooms (if you really wanted to), pepperoni, chives, raw onion, broccoli, cilantro, peppers, more cheese, sour cream, nuts, carrots, sweet potato, sunflower seeds, corn, meatballs, whatever you like. So what would you add?

14 comments:

  1. Bob.is.a.rock.star

    I have been wanting to try making this for awhile. I would definately add bacon to mine and maybe a little green top onion.

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  2. MMMM Potato soup... Classically Delicious!!!

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  3. it is pretty easy isn't it? I think it freezes good too. Great for a cold ass day like today!

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  4. That looks delish! You're right, it is a good base and you can add anything you want. I'm going to save this one for sure!

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  5. And you continue with your Puddleglum Brent ways...I love it.

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  6. Gotta love potato soup! Especially with garlic. :) Yours looks smooth and delish.

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  7. Looks good! I'd add more garlic, probably 1/2 cream, some parsley and bacon crumbles on top. Yum!

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  8. I would love a bowl of this right now!! I would make it like a loaded potato with bacon, cheese, and sour cream. YUMMY!!!

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  9. I usually shy away from creamy soups because they are so rich but this looks wonderful and pretty healthy, too, with the use of low-fat milk. If I put bacon in, would that negate the healthiness?

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  10. Parsley, bacon and sour cream on top for sure. Mmmmm. We're jealous of your immersion blender!

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  11. tamilyn: Heh, I always wanted to be a rock star. I always figured it would be for guitar playing, not potato soup though. Thanks! ;)

    Culinary Alchemist: Thanks!

    Dawn: I've heard it freezes well, if it had lasted longer than 16 hours I might have found out. Heh.

    Michele: Let me know how it works out for you. :)

    noble pig: I was thinking about my potato ho name, I think I should change it. Technically Puddle glum wasn't my pet. Brownie was my first real pet. So Brownie Brent should be my PH name, I think.

    Spryte: Thanks! :)

    Lo: Thanks, it came out nice and smooth, even without cream.

    Karen: Next time there will totally be more garlic. And my girlfriend has demanded bacon. Heh.

    Reeni: If we had had some sour cream I would have mixed some in at the end, that would have been awesome! :)

    Tangled Noodle: I was surprised how creamy it was with the 2%. Bacon never negates goodness, only adds. Oh, you meant healthy? Er, ask someone else. ;)

    duo: Hey, if I can afford and immersion blender (even though it was a gift...) you guys can! It's the best for all kinds of stuff.

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  12. YUM!! I haven't made potato soup before either -- now I must!!

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  13. This looks quite good! As I mentioned in the FuelMyBlog forum, I really like the step-by-step approach with the images.

    The lighting in your pics is quite nice as well - not always easy when you're taking photos of food.

    Well done!

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Thanks for all your comments. I try to answer any questions I'm asked, but if I miss yours feel free to email me.