My inspiration
Delicious, filling, easy…this is one of my go to soups every year when it gets chilly in NOLA. And this latest batch I made some modifications. Of course, when I made this soup last week, we were having near record breaking cold temps…not so much today since it’s currently 80 degrees in mid-November in New Orleans. Oh well…soup awaits.
Here’s a scan of the basic recipe. I don’t use chicken broth since I don’t eat chickens. And the amount of potatoes and cheese is sort of variable for me. (You can click the image to make it bigger, of course). And I have made it with beer but I like the wine better. And the depth of flavor is much better with the wine. The tamari soy sauce (which is available in my local grocery) has greater flavor than regular soy sauce…sort of like the difference between real maple syrup and the mostly sugar water stuff you buy at the grocery. Because soup is infinitely forgiving don’t worry too much about exact ingredient amounts. Your soup will be thicker or thinner, depending on what you have on hand.
So here’s what I did last week, I added cauliflower to my potatoes to make it a bit lighter and healthier.
cauliflower & yukon golds
I love using yukon golds because after blenderizing the soup they have a great texture (and color).
cooking away
Basically you cook until the potatoes are fork tender so chop them smaller if you’re in a hurry.
Cook the potatoes in broth and when done add the milk. I have made this once with cream…it was incredibily rich and I could only eat a small amount. Consider being extravagant if you want this as an appetizer soup only. Toss in your “scallions.”
chopped green onions
I guess the scallions vs green onions thing is regional. I have used regular onions and shallots but both are too strong. Since you essentially are just blanching these, this is one ingredient I wouldn’t substitute. Just add more or less depending on how onion-y you want your soup.
Blend in batches being careful not to burn yourself. I have used a hand blender (before I killed it) and the texture isn’t as smooth. This is the most annoying part of the soup but so worth it.
tamari in blended soup
Add the tamari into your soup, along with your grated cheese, and cracked pepper. I’ve used cheddar (most often), swiss, blue cheese (was interesting but didn’t freeze as well), and various cheese blends that were on hand/leftover from other recipes. This time I used part of a pre-shredded bag of sharp cheddar and part of a bag of “Mexican cheese.” It was a little mild for my tastes but still tasty.
dinner
And, voila, dinner. It’s probably taken me as long to write this post as it takes to make this soup.
Let me know if you try it out.
