Showing posts with label Soups. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soups. Show all posts
I really hope you enjoy this baked potato soup recipe I am sharing with you today. Baked potato soup is a delicious bowl filled with all the comfort food goodness of a loaded baked potato. Rich and belly warming, this is sure to become a favourite!
What's not to like about a rich and creamy soup that is loaded with cheddar cheese, crisp bacon, sour cream and spring onions?? Nothing that's what!
Add to that mix a crispy potato skin crouton topping and you have a comforting bowl of heavenly bliss! There really is only one word to describe this amazing combination and that is DELICIOUS!
I am a born and bred potato lover. I was actually born on Prince Edward Island, or Spud Island as it is also lovingly known. They are famous for their potatoes! Its all that rich red soul, which makes it the perfect place to grown them.
The potato is quite simply my favourite vegetable. I enjoy it in any way, shape or form. Mashed, fried, boiled, you name it and I love it. I especially adore BAKED potatoes however.
With their crisp skins and fluffy interiors there is no end to how you can enjoy them. Split open and fluffed with a dollop of butter melting on top. Some sour cream perhaps.
A bit of chopped spring onion, BACON bits! Maybe a sprinkle of cheese! What's not to fall in love with there!
The original recipe for this fabulous soup comes from a cookbook I have entitled, Seasons in Thyme. It is a Junior League cookbook put together by the Junior League of Birmingham, Michigan. I love LOVE Junior League cookbooks.
They are the greatest recipe books, filled with tried and trues and favourite recipes presented by various Junior League groups. The recipes in them are just the best. I used to have quite a few of them. This particular one was the very first one I ever received.
It was a Christmas gift from my ex boss at Brenchly Manor. She gave it to me the first Christmas I worked there. Its paged were filled with lots of delicious recipes which were not just dinner party fare, but also practical for every day daily use.
Not a lot of photographs, but the quality of the recipes inside more than make up for their lack. I had to leave my copy behind in the UK when I moved back to Canada, but I have slowly been replacing some of my books, or at least the ones I always enjoyed and used the most. This was one of the ones I have chosen to replace.
This deliciously rich soup plays on all the flavours of your favourite jacket potato with the exception of the crisp skin. Adding a potato skin crouton topping fixes that however. It was my own idea to add the croutons. I love soup with a tasty crouton floating on top.
The soup itself is nice and creamy. You will need to bake your potatoes ahead of time. You can very easily do this the day before, or earlier in the day. You will need two large ones.
I favour russets. Just preheat your oven to high (425*F/225*C/gas mark 7) and wash and prick your potatoes. Place them into the oven right on the oven racks and bake for about an hour until they yield when lightly pressed. Timings do depend on the size of your potatoes. If they are really large they will take longer to cook.
One reason I really love this recipe is that it doesn't use mashed potatoes like many others, mascarading them as baked potatoes. This recipe actually used baked potatoes. You end up with lovely chunks of baked potato in the soup, which I love.
To be honest, and I always try to be, a baked potato and mashed potato don't even taste the same! Baking the potatoes imparts quite a different flavour to them than simply boiling and mashing them does. To me, if you are going to make a baked potato soup, you best use baked potatoes to make it!
You know it makes sense!
Make sure you save the skins from the potatoes to make the potato skin croutons. In order to do that, once they were cooked and then cooled enough for me to handle, I cut them into quarters and trimmed the skins away from the flesh, leaving about a 1/4 inch layer of potato to help hold the skins together.
The remainder of the potato was cubed to use in the soup. The body of the soup is a basic thin cream sauce. Made from using butter and flour and milk. The potatoes and some spring onions/scallions are simmered in this mixture to impart their flavours into it.
You then add some crisp pieces of smoky bacon. What would a baked potato be without bacon? I adore bacon bits on my baked potatoes.
I also like cheese on my baked potatoes. I have used a strong cheddar here, but you can use whatever strength of cheddar you wish to use. I use the white cheddar in the soup itself and a dyed cheddar on the croutons for a better visual effect.
Once the cheese has melted into the soup, some sour cream and seasoning is added, the soup is heated through and it is ready to serve.
And it is delicious just like that, let me tell you. But add that potato skin crouton on top and it just gets immeasurably better!
Those croutons were a real inspiration. Crisp and cheesy, just like a potato skin appetiser should be. Of course some bacon bits and spring onions are added as well as a little dollop of sour cream.
Baked Potato Soup
Yield: 4
prep time: 10 Mincook time: 25 Mintotal time: 35 Min
One word. Delicious. What more can I say?
Ingredients
For the Soup:
- 1/3 cup (80g) butter
- 1/3 cup (45g) flour
- 3 1/2 cups (825ml) milk
- 2 large baking potatoes, baked, cooled, peeled and cubed (2 cups) (save the peels to make croutons)
- 2 spring onions, sliced
- 6 slices streaky bacon, crisp cooked and crumbled
- 3/4 cup (85g) grated cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup (60g) sour cream
- salt and black pepper to taste
Potato Skin croutons: (optional)
- the potato skins from your baked potatoes, cut into quarters lengthwise
- low fat cooking spray
- garlic seasoning salt to sprinkle
- bacon bits
- a bit of cheese to sprinkle
- some finely chopped spring onions to sprinkle
- sour cream to dot
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Stir in the flour and whisk until smooth.
- Cook without colouring for about a minute or so.
- Slowly whisk in the milk, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and bubbles.
- Add the potatoes and onions. Bring to the boil, stirring, but then reduce to a slow simmer and simmer for 10 minutes over very low heat.
- Stir in the bacon. Gradually whisk in the cheese, allowing each addition to melt before adding more.
- Stir in the sour cream and season to taste with salt and black pepper.
- Serve immediately, ladled into heated bowls.
- The potato skin croutons can be made ahead. Preheat the oven to 425*F/220*C/gas mark 7.
- Cut the potato skins into long wedges. Sprintz with some low fat cooking spray.
- Place onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle with some seasoning salt.
- Pop into the heated oven and bake for 10 minutes until crispy and golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the cheese and bacon bits. Return to the oven to melt the cheese.
- Spoon a dab of sour cream on top and sprinkle with the spring onions. Float on top of the hot soup.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
We sure have been having some bitterly cold weather this past week. I believe it was -10 out there this morning. I have not experienced temperatures such as this in over 20 years! This is the kind of cold that really makes you appreciate Winter soups and stews.
Food that warms your belly and soul! There is nothing like a hot bowl of soup to do just that and this Winter Vegetable Soup is one of my favourites! And not the least because of the dumplings!
Ahhh . . . Winter. That time of year when the heart and belly long for
warming, comforting, sustenance food. Foods like stews and soups . .
.
One of my absolute favorites of all the soups has to be Tomato Soup. It is the ultimate in comfort food to me, and probably one of the very few tinned soups I will eat and enjoy. Although in all honesty, even in the world of tomato soup homemade is infinitely better!
Tomato & Rice Soup is my favorite of all the Tomato Soups. There used to be a restaurant where you could get really great Tomato & Rice Soup here in Canada. I can't remember which one it was, but they had bits of spinach in the soup. It was lovely.
Growing up, the thought never occurred to me that anyone would make tomato soup from scratch. Mom never did, and she was the Queen of the homemade soups! Her homemade soup was legendary.
I guess I just always thought that if mom never made homemade tomato soup, then it must have been too hard, or it must have required highly unusual ingredients that nobody could get, etc.
It was when I was married to my first husband that I realized that people could make their own tomato soup at home. Completely from scratch. Without opening a tin from Campbells or Heinz.
And that it wasn't all that difficult to make. Not difficult to make at all. My sister in law was making homemade soup for my brother in law and my curiosity was piqued. I had to taste it. It was very good. VERY good.
That simple experience started me on the journey of making my own from scratch Tomato Soup and I have never looked back. Making your own from scratch is simple, using nothing at all out of the ordinary. In fact, I am sure you have everything in your house right now to make a delicious pot.
And it really isn't much further of a stretch to make Tomato & Rice Soup. I quite adore it. If you are like me, and you keep cans of good tinned tomatoes in your store cupboard, with a few other bits, you are never far away from a tasty bowl of tomato soup.
When I was in the UK, I always used Cirio brand Italian tomatoes. They were the best in my opinion. I haven't sorted out who the best would be here in Nova Scotia yet. It will take a bit of trial and error.
It just stands to reason however that if you are making a homemade tomato soup, with tomatoes as the main ingredient, you want a good brand of tomatoes. And you want tomatoes packed in tomato juice. These will give you the best flavor for your soup.
A bit of carrot, some onion, celery, garlic . . . nothing outrageously out of the ordinary. Things most people keep in their refrigerators most of the time! The Basics.
Tomato & Rice Soup is also a great way to use up leftover cooked rice. I prefer brown rice myself as it has more fiber and a higher nutritional value. As an older person, this might be my main meal of the day and I like to pack as much fiber and nutrition into it as I can.
Likewise I use a bit of whole-wheat flour to thicken it, but you can of course use just all purpose flour if that is all you have. Fiber and nutrition wherever I can sneak it in.
You do also need a bit of chicken stock. If you want to make it vegetarian, by all means use vegetable stock. You can use powdered or cubes, or if you are really lucky and happen to have some, fresh chicken or vegetable broth. It comes in tetra packs here in Canada. Very impressed with that!
I use a few dried herbs. Oregano and basil for that real Italian flavor. You could also use some basil pesto if you really wanted to pack an Italian punch into this soup. Personally I just like the herbs.
I do like to add a splash of hot sauce. Tabasco preferably. Its just what I have always used. How much you add depends on how much heat you want to add. I err on the side of caution because I don't like things overly spicy/hot.
If you have fresh basil, you can add some of that by all means. I often add a handful of fresh spinach (stems removed) just prior to serving this. That way it keeps its dark green color. You could add the basil at the same time.
You don't want to be adding much however. Remember there is already dried basil in the soup and basil is one of those things that can very easily be overdone.
One thing I really love about this soup is its texture. I love that it is not pureed, and that the vegetables are all kept whole, especially the chunks of tomato.
It makes for a heartier feeling finish. It also looks really nice I think, to see all the flecks and chunks. Most attractive.
I do like to add a bit of cream at the end for added richness. Normally I use undiluted evaporated milk. Its much lower in fat and cost for that matter. You can buy it in small cans for smaller families also. But if you aren't worried about fat or calories, just use the cream!
I am at the point now in my life where I almost don't want to worry about the fat and calories of cream. I have nobody to impress and its not like I have it very often. So why not enjoy what you can in life while you are still here to enjoy it.
In any case I hope you will make this and enjoy it as much as I do. I like it with crisp saltine crackers (Italian crackers in the UK) but a crusty roll is just as nice along side of this fabulously tasty soup!
Tomato & Rice Soup (small batch)
Yield: 2-3
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 45 Min
Wholesome, delicious and perfectly sized for the small family.
Ingredients
- 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 stalks celery, plus leaves, chopped
- 1 small carrot, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 small clove garlic, peeled and minced
- 1/2 TBS butter
- 1/2 TBS olive oil
- 1 TBS whole wheat flour
- 3/4 cup (130g )cooked brown rice
- 1 (14 oz/400g) tins whole plum tomatoes in tomato juice, undrained
- 1/2 TBS soft light brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp each oregano and basil flakes
- 1 cup (240ml) chicken stock
- 1/2 cup (120ml)light cream
- (I use low fat evaporated milk)
- salt and black pepper to taste
- a splash hot sauce if desired
Instructions
- Heat the butter and the oil in a large saucepan until the butter begins to foam. Add the celery, onion, carrot and garlic. Sauté, stirring occasionally over medium low heat until the onion is golden. Stir in the flour and rice, breaking up the rice. Continue to sauté until the rice begins to brown a bit. Add the tinned tomatoes, breaking them up with the back of a spoon, the chicken stock, brown sugar, oregano and basil and a splash of hot sauce if using. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a very slow simmer. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning with some salt and black pepper. Stir in the cream and heat through without boiling. Serve immediately.
If you are more interested in cooking a larger recipe of this soup (feeding 4 to 6) you can simply double all of the ingredients, or you can find my full sized recipe here.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
We had the last of the New Years Ham which needed using up today. I contemplated doing scalloped potatoes with ham, but my father doesn't really like scalloped potatoes. (I know! I don't understand it either!)
I have a cookbook entitled The weeknight Dinner Cookbook, by Mary Younkin. It is filled with simple, family friendly recipes. I spied a delicious sounding recipe in it for a Potato and Ham soup that is cooked in the slow cooker, and so I decided to adapt it for my own use.
First of all the original recipe was far too large. It made 10 to 12 servings. We are only four and we did not want to be eating soup forever.
Plus this is a creamy soup and has potatoes in it. I did not think it would lend itself well to freezing. One, potatoes like his don't really freeze well, and two, neither do soups or sauces containing cream. Plus none of us really like the texture of ham after it has been frozen.
It was fairly easy to cut the quantities in half for this. I did keep the cook times the same.Mary did not peel her potatoes for this.
My sister felt that it would probably bother my father and Dan if we left the peels on the potato. She didn't want a soup with potato skins floating around in it. Fair enough. I peeled the potatoes.
I did not have double cream or half and half to use, so I used coffee cream. It has been my experience in the past that you can also use undiluted evaporated milk in the place of both. It works well and you can't really taste that it is canned milk.
Personally, I would have loved to add a can of creamed corn to this. But, nobody (ie. Dan and dad) likes creamed corn. I don't understand that either because I could just eat it from the can with a spoon.
Oh how I am looking forward to corn season next summer! I can't wait! The whole time I was in the UK I longed for a good feed of fresh corn on the cob. The British don't really do corn on the cob well.
For one thing, it is such a damp climate that it doesn't really grow well there. Most of their corn is imported from South America, Africa and the continent. Right away anyone who knows corn will tell you that is a bad idea.
Corn should be eaten as soon as possible after it is picked. The longer you wait to eat it, the more the starch develops in the corn. Can you imagine the time taken to pick it and ship it from those foreign countries? I know!
Secondly, you should never peel corn until you are ready to cook it. Husked corn also stars to degenerate rapidly. I never saw corn un-husked in the grocery shops there. Never. Now you know why I am looking forward to corn on the season this year!
But I digress, and none of that has anything to do with this soup recipe, except to say that I think a can of creamed corn would go nicely in it.
I choose to call it a chowder myself, rather than a soup. A soup which is creamy and has a high potato content to me, is a chowder. Soup or chowder, however you choose to name it, this is one delicious pot of flavours.
It is thick and creamy. This is partially due to the use of the cream, and partially due to the fact that some of the soup gets pureed and stirred back into the soup.
I used my stick blender that Jan bought me for the first time and it worked beautifully. (Thank you Jan!!) Its a Kitchen-Aid and worked a charm. You can also use a regular blender to do this.
If you do need to use a regular blender for this, proceed with caution. Hot liquids and blenders can be very volatile combinations.
The heat from the liquid builds up in the blender and can blow the lid right off. Been there, done that. Not only can you receive some really bad burns from this, but you will be cleaning soup off your ceiling for weeks and months to come. Trust me.
The best way to do puree hot things in a blender is to remove the little cup from the centre of the lid and work in small quantities. Also cover the lid with a tea towel to help protect your hands and hold the lid firmly in place.
I speak thusly from experience, having blown the lid off a blender early on in my cooking journey. Thankfully I only had a mess to clean up and didn't burn myself. Its so much easier and safer to use a stick blender in my humble opinion.
Pureeing some of the liquid with some of the potatoes and ham really helps to thicken this soup. It gives it a nice creamy consistency.
Do be judicious when adding salt. Ham is a very salty ingredient and so you really don't want to be over-doing the salt!
This is a hearty soup with beautiful flavours. You get the creaminess from the cream. Saltyness from the ham. Herbiness from the use of thyme and rosemary, and then lets not forget the garlic and the onion. Both are not only flavourful but very aromatic as well.
Altogether we declared this a lovely soup and one we would make again. Not just because it was delicious, but also because it was very easy to make.
It is delicious served simply with crisp crackers, but those of you who are heartier eaters you may want to serve it with rolls, or hot buttered toast. Also baking powder biscuits would go down really well. I would be tempted also to serve some grated cheese to sprinkle on top.
No matter, this recipe makes for one very tasty hot bowl of soup! Yum yum!!
Slow Cooker Potato & Ham Chowder
Yield: 4
prep time: 10 Mincook time: 6 Hourtotal time: 6 H & 10 M
This delicious creamy soup is perfect for a cold winter's day and a great way to use up the last of your New Year's Ham.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds of potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
- 1/2 pound cooked ham, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch chunks (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1/2 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 3 cups (720ml) chicken stock
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
- 1/4 tsp ground rosemary
- salt to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup (120ml) half and half or heavy cream
Optional Toppings:
- minced chives
- finely chopped flat leaf parsley
Instructions
- Combine the potatoes, ham, onion, garlic, chicken stock, salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary in a slow cooker. Stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on high (3 to 4 hours) or low (6 - 8 hours.)
- When the potatoes are fork tender, scoop out about 2 cups (480g) of the potatoes and ham into a blender, or a tall measuring cup. Blitz until smooth and creamy in the blender, or with a stick blender in the cup.
- Return the blended mixture to the slow cooker along with the cream. Reduce to low and keep warm for up to one hour.
- Scoop into heated bowls to serve, along with suggested garnishes as desired.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
London Particular is a delicious Split Pea Soup! The name comes from the famous fogs of London back in Dickensian times, which came to be known as London Particulars or Pea Soup Fogs.
Fogs which were so thick that you could scarce see your hand in front of your face. They would be blinding and very heard to breathe in.
One thing that mom always mad after the holidays was soup. If there was a leftover bone or carcass or meat from anything, one thing we could count on was a big pot of soup.
We loved mom's soups. They were hearty and delicious. I used to make soup a lot when my children were growing up as well. My ex husband called it Stewp because he felt they were like a cross between a soup and a stew.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Social Icons