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Sunday, December 26, 2010

Best Potato Soup Recipe!


I’ve been making this for years, it is the boys favorite, and it’s SO easy….just a bit messy in the makings, but worth it! AND. It gets better the next day and the day after as all the flavors blend and it thickens up!

There are lots of recipes for low-fat-no-fat-this-and-that, and this is NOT one of them! However, when you divide the fat by the 8-10 large servings this recipe makes, I find it to have less fat than what most people load on their baked potatoes. I know there is a recipe for a lower fat roux using chicken stock and flour, but it just doesn’t TASTE the same!

This recipe is great for a quick meal because I can make the white sauce while the potatoes boil.

In a pinch, I’ve even grabbed a 2lb bag of diced frozen hash-browns and used them instead of peeling, slicing, dicing 2 lbs of potatoes.

vegomatic

Once upon a time, I used to have one of those french fry press things called a Veg-O-Matic! It was a wedding gift and I used it for years. You peel the potato, push it through the thing and you’d have fries! And I would boil them down as fries and mash them in the water with a potato masher to break them into bite size pieces, but the french fry press gave up the ghost a long time ago and I never replaced it. After doing a search for a pic on these, I found they are still available..what a hoot! I don’t think I will replace it ---but seeing the pic sure takes me back!

I also have this MOULI thing – got it from a yard sale about 20 years ago or more for something like $3.00.

mouli

and mine is probably about as OLD as this one! I used this to slice the cheese for sandwiches when Lisa was over the other day and she said “What IS that thing?!?” Rolling on the floor laughing

Love that 70’s Cheddar Orange color! I’m not that lucky, mine is TAN! It’s very easy and I use it all the time. You slide the blade in, put the handle through the hole in the blade…put the cheese, the potato, the onion, whatever it is you want to slice or grate in the space, push the cover arm down on it and rotate the handle. No electricity, easy clean up, in the dishwasher it goes, and voila. And this is what I’m using to make my Potato Soup with – I’m going to grate the potatoes with the LARGEST grater, and boil them that way.

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So on to the recipe:

  • Approximately 2 lbs potatoes, washed, peeled, diced (or largely grated) (About 4-5 potatoes depending on the size)
  • 1/2 large onion, diced
  • 1-1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

Place in large soup pot with water to a bit more than cover. Boil until potatoes are done, adding more water if needed. I use a potato masher to break the grated pieces into smaller bits as they boil. Do not drain water!

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First pic: Roux Second pic: Soup in the Pot!

While potatoes are boiling:

  • Fry up 6-8 slices of bacon in a large fry pan. Allow to drain on paper towels, and when cool crumble.
  • Stir 1/3 cup flour into the warm bacon drippings and stir into a smooth roux. (There should be approx 3 Tbl drippings)
  • Add 2 cups of milk (We use 1%) and bring to a boil to thicken. It will get VERY thick.

When potatoes are done, and sauce is thick, stir the sauce into the potato soup ((if your soup is very watery, you might want to drain some before adding the sauce)) Soup will thicken as it cools. Stir in bacon crumbles.

If you like more vegetables in your soup ((I do, family doesn’t! Nyah-Nyah )) You can add celery, sweet corn, and sliced or diced carrots to the boiling potatoes! Frozen peas & carrots also work in a pinch and add nice color.

Add salt and pepper as desired. Allow to sit for about 20 minutes to cool and thicken before serving. Serve with crackers and top with grated cheese. Choppped green onions or chives are also yummy and pretty!

This is great and hearty served with a nice green salad!

Enjoy!


26 comments:

  1. Mmmm, sounds yummy. I'm going to have to try it. I've been using this recipe, with some tweeks of my own: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2009/06/crockpot-baked-potato-soup-recipe.html

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  2. The soup sounds good with bacon, never tried adding bacon. I just peel them 'taters and quarter to cook. Pour some of the cooking water into a big measure cup to add back as needed. But it would be fun to use that gadget you have! We will be making potato soup with left-over Christmas dinner ham this time around.

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  3. nom nom that looks great!

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  4. yum! I may be making that for dinner tomorrow night...with a grilled cheese sandwich of course!

    Yep, the slicer is kickin!

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  5. OMG Your post brought back lots of memories! We had a mouli-julienne at home when I was young and I used it a lot. I haven't thought about it in years. It did lots of things that I use my food processor for now. The potato soup sounds great and I'll have to try the recipe someday.

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  6. Oh boy, that sounds like the perfect recipe for a cold snowy winter night like this! I have no potatoes in the house and from the looks of this storm, I won't be getting to the store before Tuesday. I'll have to print it out so I can make it later. Yum!

    MGM

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  7. Hey, this is my recipe except I keep my broth thin and don't do the roux. Yummy! I made the same thing and added clams for Christmas Eve! Yum yum!

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  8. Thank you for the recipe! My family loves potato soup and I will try this tomorrow!

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  9. OMG Bonnie, your soup sounds delicious!! I think I'll give it a try once we've mowed our way thru all these leftover. I'm already growing weary of turkey and chicken ...
    Be sure to have a great week hon
    *hugs*
    Tazzie
    :-)

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  10. I make a similar soup to that! I like the idea to grate the potatoes...might make things quicker! I do fry onions and celery in the bacon drippings before adding the flour, and usually add a bit of celery salt (or add one of the sets of celery leaves and remove it before serving). Instead of doing 2 separate pans, though, I add chicken stock to the flour/drippings mixture, cook my potatoes straight in that, and then add cream at the very end.

    Okay, so maybe my soup isn't quite as like yours as I thought it was.

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  11. Oh thank you. I love new potato soup recipes!!!

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  12. Anonymous10:14 AM EST

    Never made potatoe soup because I thought it would be too hard, but you make it sound very easy and what a great soup to make while this this snowstorm is raging here in NE.

    That "MOULI" thing in the picture...Julia Child used one of those, I believe. I rememvber watching old episodes of her show, "The French Chef" and seeing her use one.

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  13. It is 16 degrees at our house this morning and I am going to make this soup for lunch with some onion & cheese cornbread muffins.

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  14. Anonymous2:47 PM EST

    Yummy! That sounds so good and perfect for a "Blizzard sort of day" here in NH. I will have to try that very soon! ~Take Care

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  15. Ohmygosh, I had a Veg-a-matic and used it for years! Never had the Mouli thing, but don't you just love those old gadgets we used to have!

    Your soup sounds delicious and you've made me hungry for some. I've got left over au-gratin potatoes from Christmas dinner. (Thinking...do you smell the wood burning?...I wonder if there is a way to use them and make a potato soup? I'll bet there is, but probably won't try it!)

    Byebye for now...

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  16. Sounds yummy!! I made a chicken pot pie for dinner...inspired by and almost as good as Finnigan's. The boys both went back for seconds, so it must have been good :)

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  17. I have that same Mouli contraption but mine is all metal, used to belong to my m-i-l. I always kept it because it looked so interesting but I have never used it. I think I will pull it out of the cabinet and put it to good use. Thanks for the recipe.

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  18. Thanks Bonnie! I had all the ingredients and whipped it up this morning. Yuuummm! (used kirkland bacon bits and made my roux with butter) added carrots and celery. The roux creamed up so well, thank you thank you. Husband and sons are in hog heaven.

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  19. I had one of those french-fry cutters until I bent it using too big of potatoes. I also had a julienne thing, but garage-saled it when I got a food processor with the attachment. Guess I used more arm muscles with the hand-crank one.

    This is the same recipe I use...except I put ham in mine and just sprinkle the bacon on top of the shredded cheese when I serve it.

    Do you have a curly fry cutter? My Mom bought me one 25 years ago and I still use it.

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  20. Getting some potatoes ready to boil for mashed potatoes; and I like to use my "apple-peeler-corer-slicer" from pampered chef to peel and slice the potatoes. They come off the end in a cool spiral, and then I only have to use my knife & cutting board for the "core". Very quick when working with a large batch. Love your hand-crank machine!

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  21. I used to use flour in my potato soup to make it thicken, but now that I am gluten-free, I made potato soup for the first time without flour the other day...a the crockpot!!! And it came out just as thick and delish as my old recipe! :)

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  22. The other day I made my first potato soup since going gluten-free. I made it in the crockpot and it was just as delish and thick and creamy without any flour at all! :)

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  23. Love potato soup. I boil potatoes and mash into the starch water, add sautéed leeks and a small amount of milk. Now l will try with bacon also cause it sounds delicious!

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  24. The Mouli grater is the best, quickest, easiest, most wonderful kitchen gadget around! I never even used the other blades, just the grater. Mine gave up the ghost and I've tried to replace it with others of that kind and they have all stunk! Some were recognizable name brands too! So, enjoy your Mouli, I'm off to go and do a search and see if I can find one! And thanks for the recipe! Magistra13 at yahoo dot com
    Beth

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  25. Bonnie, Thanks for the recipe. My son loves potato soup. I will make this for him.

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  26. I made this soup yesterday for lunch and we enjoyed it very much. Can I freeze this?

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