Deciding to finally commit to making an online archive of my favorite recipes – under a whole new site tinypotato.net – I had to make the first recipe Potato Soup.
I hope you enjoy Lovies!
– Tanalei
I am a Tiny Potato and I believe in you. You can do the thing!
Comfort Potato Soup
This is a family favorite at my house. It has taken us two decades to finally refine the recipe to our idea of perfection. Every family is different, feel free to tweak the seasonings.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Salted butter
- 2 Medium to large leeks. You will cut off the end where the dark green begins, just below where the stals start to spread. You will cut them in half lengthwise and then in half lengthwise again and clean the stalks thouroughly. Then chop the stalked up small (about 1/2 – 1 CM thick) this will result into 3-4 cups.
- 6 medium cloves of garlic chopped or pressed through a garlic press.
- 2 heads of garlic rinsed and papery skins removed and top third of the heads cut off and discarded (I have problems doing this so I will peel all of the garlic in the 2 heads of garlic and put them in a cheesecloth bag)
- 64oz Vegetable Stock
- 5lbs of potatoes peeled and chopped into (roughly) 2 inch chunks
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 4 Bay leaves
- 2 Tbs Majoram
- 2 Tbs Rosemary
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp MSG
- 2 Tbs Thyme
- 1 Tbs Sage
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup chives
- 3 Tbs Parsley
Steps:
- Melt butter in a stock pot over medium heat. It will start to foam, and after the foaming subsides add the leeks and cook until soft (about 5-8 Minutes).
- Stir in the chopped/pressed garlic and cook until fragrent (about 1-2 minutes).
- Add Stock, Bay leaves, 1/2 tsp salt and the heads of garlic (with either with the tops removed or fully peeled in a cheesecloth bag). Cover and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat for 10 minutes.
- Add the potatoes and continue to simmer while covered for 20 minutes.
- Remove the heads of garlic using tongs, remove and discard the bay leaves. Add the Majoram, Rosemary, White Pepper, MSG, Thyme, Sage and remaining salt; cover and continue to simmer 15 minutes.
- To the side in a small bowl, empty the garlic from the cheesecloth bag or squeeze the garlic heads at the root end until the cloves slip out of their skins. Using a fork, mash the garlic to a smoth paste into the bowl.
- Add half of the garlic paste to the simmering pot and mix. Taste the soup. If it needs more of the garlic paste, add more garlic paste. (I generally end up adding all of it… since I love garlic).
- Add the heavy cream, parsley and chives and allow the soup to heat back up, about 2 minutes.
- The last step is kindof messy and there are a few ways to do it…
- Using a potato masher, mash the boiled potatoes in the stock until it is to a consistancy you like. The more the potatoes are broken up the thicker and creamier the soup is.
- Using a hand mixer, lower into the pot so the heads of the mixer attachments are completely submerged and turn on low to medium-low and mix for 1-3 minutes until desired consistancy. (This is generally what I do since it is faster but there usually isn’t any large potato chunks, unfortunately.)
- Using a ladle, transfer 1/2 to 3/4 of the potato chunks and some broth into your food processor until smooth (more potatoes processed = thicker and creamier soup) pour the puree back into the pot and stir to combine.
- If you have an imersion blender (I do not, unfortunately) you could use it to process the soup until your desired consistancy.
- Ladle into bowls to serve and enjoy!
NOTES:
- I have used some shreded cheese and bacon bits as a topper in the past as well as some oyster crackers. There is a lot of interesting things you could add as a topper, just experiment.
- You can substitute the Vegetable Stock for Chicken/Turkey/Pork/Beef Stock but this will obviously change the flavor significantly. You will want to hold off on adding salt until the end if you do this, as these stocks have a higher salt content.
