REMEMBER THAT 10 POUND BAG OF POTATOES?
Bangers & Mash, Nancy burgers with french fries, potatoes au gratin... and last night creamy potato soup (which actually makes 5 meals to date, since we have enough leftover for Sunday supper).
This is not vichyssoise - a wonderful, cold potato soup -- this is not a Gourmet Magazine recommendation or some fancy chef's potato soup, this is a 'middle-America' Better Homes & Gardens recipe... Slimming? No. But if that's dinner, it's not all that fattening, either... AND it's healthful and hearty... AND, it's cheap. And in today's economic climate - cheap is the new black... Wake up and smell the recession... It's even cheaper than fast food - actually many healthful, inexpensive meals are cheaper than fast foods if one actually cooks for his/her family... and most home cooked meals do not include high fat content that hooks its consumers like a shot of heroin, but I digress...
Counting one's pennies is important in today's world and, since there's no potato famine in America, buy a 10 pound bag of potatoes for 99 cents (or less - we just saw one for 69 cents) and augment your meals with these wonderful spuds or make a whole meal out of potatoes. Have a baked potato for lunch. Did I mention it's way cheap??? And it's way better for you than a bacon western, eastern, southern, northern calorie and fat festival. And this creamy potato soup is plain delicious.
Tonight meal #6 = boiled potatoes with baked pork chops and steamed zucchini.
CREAMY POTATO SOUP
(Better Homes and Gardens)
Prep: 25 min. Cook: 35 min.
Ingredients:
2 cups thinly sliced onions or leeks
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced (we used the regular baking potatoes)
4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
8 oz. Swiss-style cheese such as Gruyere or baby Swiss, shredded (we used Edam)
Snipped herbs (we got parsley & chives from our herb garden)
2 oz. baby Swiss cheese, thinly sliced - optional (again, we used the Edam we had)
Directions:
In 4-quart Dutch oven cook onions in hot oil over medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes or until tender.
Whisk together the milk and flour; add to onions. Cook and stir for 5 minutes.
Add potatoes and chicken broth. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and cook for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Remove from heat; cool slightly.
Puree soup, half at a time, in blender or food processor.
Return to Dutch oven; add shredded cheese. Cook and stir over medium heat just until cheese is melted. Season to taste. Sprinkle fresh herbs
Garnish w/ sliced cheese. Serve at once.
Makes 8 (1-cup) servings
Each serving: 220 calories (see - not that fattening - you can have two bowls and it's still less fattening than a fast food burger and fries); 11 g fat; 31 mg chol; 441 mg sodium; 18 g carbo; 1 g fiber, 13 g protein.
12 comments:
That looks incredibly good!
Sounds great, Lonie.
Since you asked the question, if I had to figure out what to do with a lot of potatoes, I'd probably make a (mashed) potato pie, which is a family tradition for my Richard's family. I don't know if it is actually French-Canadian, or just Northern Rhode Island French-Canadian.
Very simple. Prepare 1 two crust pie pastry. Line a 9" pie plate with one crust. Make enough mashed potatoes to fill a 9" pie. I usually add minced onion to mine, for this particular recipe. Fill the pie shell, then top, seal, and flute the 2nd crust. Bake at 425º for about 40 minutes, or until browned. Serve as the main course, or as a side. The family usually uses catsup as a condiment.
Again...cheap, filling...but not low cal!!
Andrea
Thanx for the recipe, Andrea - I'm definitely sending it on to Richard.
For Thanksgiving, I always make "make-ahead Mashed Potatoes." It's great to not have to be peeling potatoes an hour or 2 before dinner is ready and eveyone loves these potatoes. Even though there is a crumb topping, you can still top them with turkey gravy if wanted, but they are also great with no gravy.
3# peeled potatoes
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 stick butter
1 1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
Cook potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain and mash well with remaining ingredients. Pile lightly into buttered casserole, cover and refrigerate.
The next day, bake uncovered at 325 for 1 hour.
Melt 2 or 3 Tablespoons of butter until slightly browned. Add 1/3 cup bread crumbs and toss. Sprinkle over potatoes and bake 30 minutes longer.
Thanx for sharing that, Lana -- what a great idea - especially when giving a big party want to do things ahead...
I love potato soup. I'll have to try this.
Never met a potato I didn't like!
Just has a wonderful potato and leek soup at a beautiful L.A. garden restaurant. Perfect for a sunny day with a slight chill in the air.
Gotta a recipe?
Looks so simple. I will definitely try. I always worry about the calories on creamed soup, but 200 is not bad. Thanks for sharing.
Hey, anonymous - I'd love that potato and leek soup recipe -- we have a deck near the garden, so we could pretend to be in an LA garden restaurant... ;o)
I am not a potato soup fan but I think I would make an exception in this case. Have you ever been to Ireland? The restaurants will serve you mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, fried potatoes, roasted potatoes, baked potatoes, broiled potatoes and yes, potato soup.
My favorite thing to do with potatoes (preferably creamers, Yukons or fingerlings) is to simply toss them with good extra virgin olive oil, minced garlic, fresh rosemary, Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Then I roast them for about 45 minutes and sprinkle some fresh grated asiago cheese on top.
it's easy, quick and a crowd pleaser.
Jill, I love those roasted potatoes -- we have fingerlings alot - I'm going to do them that way the next time I make them.
PS - Forgot -- no, Jill, we've never been to Ireland, tho I truly want to go - Richard's very poorman's Irish/WASP ;o) --
Am going to post sometime this week his experience making Julia Child's mash potatoes for Thanksgiving when we were w/ cousins in San Ramon... They were absolutely scumtious (sp?)
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