Old-Fashioned Potato Soup

Creamy, old-fashioned and money-saving soup chock full of potatoes.

Old-Fashioned Potato Soup

By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime

Old-Fashioned Potato Soup has long been a favorite of mine. I was actually a little surprised a few months ago to notice I had not ever posted a recipe for that yet.

So when it became time for Soup Saturday Swappers, our monthly blogger get-together for posting soups, and Sid of Sid’s Sea Palm Cooking., as our host, chose potatoes for the theme of the month, it was pretty obvious what I was going to do.

You might think potato soup is a kind of plain boring soup but it’s not. Well, I mean some of them can be. But I like layering mine with the flavors of a French mirepoix and a few other things. I have tasted some served at restaurants that were quite bland and reminded me of runny biscuit gravy with potatoes tossed in as an afterthought. You won’t find that here.

This particular version is vegetarian, and perfect for a meatless Monday. But I am not averse to tossing in a bit of chopped bacon and have done that many times. Saving money is also another good thing about this soup, as it is quite economical, and fairly healthy as you get some vegetables plus if you are cutting back on fat you can opt to use fat free evap. milk and neufchatel low-fat cream cheese.

This reheats marvelously, but as some soups do it will probably thicken up on you, so thin that in a reheat with some milk or water. Although I doubt you will have much left unless there are only one or two of you around.

Be sure to scroll past the recipe printout to get to the linkup. Click the blue frog to be transported.

Old-Fashioned Potato Soup

Servings: 4-6
Time: 40mins
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

1-1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups vegetable broth
1-2 bay leaves
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup chopped celery tips and leaves (optional)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or 1-1/2 teaspoon fresh minced thyme
pinch cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 (12 fluid ounces each) cans evaporated milk
4 ounces cream cheese, cut into chunks

Method:

Place potatoes in a saucepan and cover with the vegetable broth and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for twelve minutes. The liquid might seem light, but it’s fine. Don’t drain the liquid but keep it when the potatoes are done.
While the potatoes cook, saute the onions, carrots,celery, celery tips/leaves, and garlic in the butter until the vegetables soften, seasoning with the parsley, thyme, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper.
When the veggies are soft, stir in the flour and let it cook for a minute or two to get the raw flour taste out, then set aside until the potatoes get done.
As soon as the potatoes are done, do not drain off the vegetable broth. Stir in the evaporated milk and the vegetables with flour, stirring to mix in like a roux.
Bring to a boil and boil one minutes, stirring.
Remove from heat and add the cream cheese to the soup, stirring constantly until the cheese melts and mixes in.
Serve garnished with a little parsley if you like.

From the kitchen of palatablepastime.com