POTATO SOUP
Perfect for a cold winter day
First the recipe...............I don't have one..........let me wing it here.
1 lb hamburger
2 cups water
1 onion
1 Bag 'O Spices (look at the picture)
Cumin
Fennel
Paprika
Garlic Power
Rosemary
Tumeric
Thyme
Lawry Season Salt
Any amount of these, I love them all and they're yummy let's say 1/2 teaspoon or to taste
3 potatoes (more of less to suit yourself peeled chopped
1 lg container beef broth
3 C Milk
NOW PICTURES
Pour water over raw hamburger and mix the hamburger and water together. (I use my hands)
Turn the heat on medium high. I actually turn it on high but I burn almost everything, so take that for what it's worth.
One onion diced--at this point I usually use fresh garlic too, but I'm out
I keep Garlic Powder on hand.
Add diced onion to hamburger/water mixture and stir (I'm not using my hands anymore, it's hot. I switch over to a SPOON.
Here's what I call my Bag 'O Spices. I do this because My Cowboy cooks a LOT around here, God bless him. And he isn't too into spices, he just doesn't know what they all mean. So I bagged up the spices I use in soups and he can just drag the bag out and start dumping.
Here's what I used in the potato soup. I am particularly fond of Fennel Seed and Turmeric. They just have an unusual and luscious flavor.
I sprinkle, I don't measure. Unless you're dumping high powered pepper in or go nuts with too much salt, you really can't do this wrong. (I may be underestimating some of you!)
3 potatoes, note the size, this does NOT MATTER. If you've got a crowd or a bunch of kids add six or eight potatoes, this is how you stretch the soup, extra milk makes it plentiful, too.
I quartered the potatoes the long way. This also does NOT MATTER,
but Ruthy wanted pictures so here you go.
I think last time I made this I left the potato skins on
but I went on auto-pilot and started peeling.
Then aftet you've quartered them, turn the cutting board sideways and rough chop them.
Dump the potatoes into the steaming meat/water/spice/onion concoction.
This is going to smell so great!
Mix the potatoes in and add a lg container of beef broth. This might not be necessary. The broth on the hamburger might be enough if you added MORE water to it at the beginning but we like lots of broth. Let this simmer. The trick here is the ROSEMARY. I have a plant but I used dried today because my plant is getting too cut back and it needs to grow a while and I had the little container of Rosemary...but these little spikes of lusciousness are HARD. They need time to tenderize. Get them in early and let the soup simmer until the rosemary and potatoes are tender and the flavors blend.
I let mine simmer for about an hour,
but if you don't have time, at least long enough for the potatoes to cook.
Just before the meal, pour in milk. I used three or four cups. How nutritious is this, huh?
Let the soup warm through.
Ladle into bowls. I added Lawry's Season Salt but no other salt and you may need to salt and pepper to taste but I let everyone do that on their own.
And by EVERYONE I mean My Cowboy, he likes TOO MUCH PEPPER!!!
Embrace the savory joy!
GRATUITOUS FINN PICTURE!!!!!
How stinkin' cute is he???? I bet he'd love Mary's soup!!!
I just bought a bag of potatoes so I think I'll try this, although I'll need to go get fennel and turmeric. I'm pretty sure I don't have those!
ReplyDeleteLooks just right for all the rain we're having...
Perfect for cold, rainy, snowy days!!!!
DeleteVirginia it's okay to skip the fennel and turmeric. I love them but the soup will still be luscious without them. I add all these spices to chili, too. Well, to every soup almost.
Deletesounds good! does it re-heat good with the milk in it? I almost bought a bag of potatoes last week but didn't know what to do with them all! now I know at least one recipe! my mom used to do potatoes and tomatoes together - doesn't sound good but it tasted pretty good. not sure if she used bouillon with the water or not. I know there was onion in it.
ReplyDeleteSusanna
Susanna, we used to make Swiss Steak with tomatoes, potatoes, carrots done in the deep pot with the beef steak simmering down below. It was amazing!!!
DeleteWe reheat it and we freeze it if we don't get it eaten fast enough.
DeleteRuthy what's a deep pot? is that like a crock pot?
Deletehave you tried parsnips? a guy here at work was telling me about a pressure cooker meal they m ake with steak, carrots, potatoes, and parsnips...never had a parsnip but he said they're delish-..he says to cut them in pieces along with carrots and put in a deep skillet with a lot of butter and some water and let them boil - when the water cooks out they've cooked in teh butter and ready to eat...
Susanna
I have never had potato soup and I love potatoes!!!! Such a comfort food. I'm going to tweak this vegetarian style and give it a try. Replace beef broth for veggie broth and skipping the hamburger and add adding more veggies...carrots, some pretty coloured peppers maybe? That should work. I'm all about fast and easy hearty soups for Speedbo month so this will give me some variety.
ReplyDeleteYAY SPEEDBO!!!!! I've got a broken weekend to start the month, but I'm not letting that dissuade me. I'm up early (well, that's not exactly NEWS, LOL!) and making use of baby's nap right now to check out blogs and get ready for March. Baby Finn is here... So stinkin' cute!!!
DeleteWait.
I must add a Finn pic to Mary's post. She won't mind!!!
KAV go for it. I'd like to hear how you like it.
DeleteOh Mary, my husband is a pepper freak too! (Not that I'm calling your Cowboy a freak. He's a really nice person! I liked him! Swear!!!)
ReplyDeleteMY husband is a pepper freak. The good part of that is I don't have to worry about how anything tastes because he covers it with a layer of pepper.
And oh my! I don't think there's any kitchen smell I like better than the combination of rosemary and potatoes cooking. Yum!
I don't know what the pepper thing is about. But he just shakes and shakes, then at the bottom of the soup, there's so much pepper he usually starts sweating. But he loves it!!!!!
DeleteDave does the same thing. He blackens everything. He and Ivan would get along well. They could talk about their crazy wives. It would be good. And they'd nod knowingly when they reach for the pepper shaker. Mary Curry, your husband, too????? Maybe their taste buds fail as they AGE????? :)
Deletegosh around here it's that green container of tony chachere's cajun seasoning...my friend's dad and hubby and pretty much in both familes coat their food with it. one time I brought over a buffalo chicken lasagna (guy food no veggies in it just chicken and hot stuff and pasta and cheese seems like) and they still started shakign that stuff on it - and one admitted he made a mistake because it was hot as it was!
DeleteSusanna
Susanna it's very common for me to say to My Cowboy (we're empty nesters now) "Taste it before you pepper it."
Deletethat's all the warning he gets! :)
Wow. I wish I hadn't told my family we were having chili for supper tonight, because this soup looks perfect for our -7 temperatures and blowy snowy weather.
ReplyDelete(Why is -7 in March so much worse than in January?)
But I could do this for tomorrow...It would go great in the crock pot, wouldn't it? And then it would be all flavorful and hot when we get home from church :)
Maybe I'll make some bread today to go with it.
You're all invited. Around 1:00 MST.
Jan, I'd make the whole thing then pour it into a crock pot probably. Or at least brown the hamburger first...but browned hamburger and raw potatoes in the crockpot should be perfect. I might wait and add the milk when you get home. Let it heat a bit but mostly, use the milk to bring the temp of the soup down to an edible range.
DeletePS Jan, we are using our front porch as a refrigerator AND a freezer all the time. It's screened in and the cold is so razor sharp that it's too cold for refrigerated stuff. It's supposed to be minus 18 here Sunday night. That is NOT wind chill, that is the temperature.
DeleteThey're predicting a new record LOW for the highest temperature tomorrow, too. The lowest high...does that make sense? High tomorrow, Sunday March 2nd...ZERO!!!
You're as cold as we are, Mary!
DeleteWe use our garage as an extra refrigerator. It's hovering around 33° out there.
And I think you're right about the adjustments - brown the hamburger first, and then everything except the milk for the 4 or so hours we're gone. Add the milk and let it heat while we set the table....
Excuse me, I think it's lunch time!
We had minestrone soup for lunch today. I asked Ruthy to let me be on again but she's so HUFFY!
DeleteThat is a complete falsehood!!!! I am not huffy. I'm mean. There's a BIG DIFFERENCE, CHICKIE!!!! We'll have you on in April again for the minestrone soup. I love soup. I could eat soup all year long.... It's just so good.
DeletePoint taken. I apologize for the 'huffy' comment.
DeleteHAH, I misspelled Huffy, HUGGY. don't you think that's sweet???
hahaha. That was great!!!!
ReplyDeleteHAHAHA. That was great!!! Is this another reference to the fact that you live in ARIZONA!!!???
DeleteI think she loves FINN!!!!!
DeleteThanks, Mary! I had never thought to add the meat in raw form; that looks like a time saver (and no dirty frying pan either). We like potato soup and I don't make it often enough. You inspire me to try it early next week. We seldom peel potatoes; that is another time saver. Judy Sheridan Smith
ReplyDeleteI love potatoes with skins on. They feel and taste so hearty. And I don't have to peel 'em.
DeleteBONUS!!!!
OH MY GOSH!!! Ruthy I read that comment five times before I remembered you'd named your DOG Jeter and were referring to him. A very confusing blog comment if I'm reading it thinking you're talking about a baseball player!!!!!
DeletePS my comment should be on the NEXT comment after Kav's. Blogger tricked me.
DeleteWait...the stinkin' cutie wasn't in the blog when I read it this morning. He's stealthy as well as cute. And yay, I got to see Libby in person. :-)
ReplyDeleteLibby and Finn are great pals. Jeter is a little too busy for Finn. He bowls everything over, bumps the back of your legs, and wiggles his big, shaggy head up, under your arm, for a doggy hug. But he's a sweet fellow, easy going and gentle. Just some puppy exuberance still.... for about the next three years, LOL!
DeleteNow that's a great-sounding variation on my version of potato soup! (I don't use beef, but bacon. Lots of bacon cut into small chunks and browned, then chopped onion, 3 potatoes to overcook and mash into added chicken broth to make it chowder thick, and 3 more to dice, along with a few sliced green onions for colour, and seasonings.) My seasonings aren't nearly as interesting as yours, so I'm definitely going to have to get more adventuresome with them.
ReplyDeleteAnd what a cutie patootie in Ruthie's vid!! I wonder if he likes soup. ;)
Carol, I've considered trying ham, too. I think ham would be good in this.
DeleteCarol, he likes donuts. :) While Mom and Dad were doing marriage prep at church, Finn sampled some of the cider-glazed fry cakes I bought for Seekerville.... We like to share! :)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI was raised in a family with eight kids and NO MONEY. We were seriously very very poor. And a lot of my mom's standard dishes were what I think of as 'Depression Food'. That is food stretched with lots of milk, sometimes in cream sauces, and pasta and very little meat.
ReplyDeleteSo my mom's potato soup had NO MEAT. I think she put a few pats of butter in but it was milk, onion, salt, then that butter. THAT'S IT!
The first time I made potato soup as a young bride, My Cowboy said, "Where's the hamburger?"
Hamburger? In potato soup? Weird.
So I put it in and voila! Good bye Dust Bowl. Good bye stock market crash. NOW we're talkin' food.
Depression food--potato soup, creamed hamburger on toast (heavy on the thickened white sauce, light on the meat), rice/tapioca/bread pudding. NO FRUIT.
I think Macaroni and Cheese came from the depression and mom had a recipe with rice and cheese and green pepper that was delicious.
I'm blank now and can't think of more, but think about your own favorite childhood meals...there was a lot of depression influence.
My mother in law had a recipe she called a milkless/butterless/eggless cake. My mIl said they had potato soup like I had when she was a child because there was no money but they had milk cows and so 'Free Food'. All on her own as an adult mother, she started adding meat.
Some of it wasn't depression, some of it was WWII rationing.
But this stuff was pretty taste/
Mary, I think ham would be good in it, too.
DeleteI remember my parents and grandparents putting together meals during WWII with ingredients purchased via those rationed "war stamps". Still, as kids we didn't consider our diet restricted. My father and grandfather were hunters, so we always had moose or venison and occasional grouse. We ate a lot of home grown vegetables out of our 'kitchen garden', and loved them... especially when we were allowed to pick them ourselves during the summer and eat them raw. That's when my father says he developed a taste for creamed carrots and baby onions. And turnips and carrots mashed together with a bit of butter and a sprinkle of brown sugar (when we could get sugar). Through the winters there were always lots of potatoes, carrots, turnips (rutabagas), beets and onions in the root cellar alongside the jars of canned moose and venison. In retrospect, I think we were very fortunate.
It's interesting to think about how our food choices and recipes have been influenced by what we experienced while growing up.
Soup sounds great, but really? Before Finn's baby video?? He's adorable, Grandma!! Give him a kiss from me!
ReplyDeleteSo here it is, Sunday afternoon.
ReplyDeleteDo you remember how I was going to make this soup for lunch today?
Normally I get the ingredients for Sunday dinner out on Saturday night. (Sunday morning is almost as crazy busy around here as it was when the children were little!) But last night I didn't do that.
After all, I knew I had a bunch of potatoes. I just bought a bag last week!
So this morning, I put the hamburger on the stove to cook, start my oatmeal, go to the pantry for the potatoes...and there's one puny tater in there.
From then on, disaster! My oatmeal burned, the hamburger ALMOST burned, my dear daughter used the last of the milk on her {shudder} instant oatmeal, and I remembered I didn't have my Sunday School lesson ready yet. :(
It turned out okay. I used my one potato, a few carrots, a can of potatoes I had in our emergency pantry, the hamburger, onion, the Bag o' Spices, beef broth and a pint of canned tomatoes.
The Bag o' Spices was great! Just the right blend...so nummy!
And the vegetable soup turned out wonderful.
My oatmeal? Not so good. But I didn't starve :) And I DID get my Sunday School lesson done on time!
Look at all those spices! Yum! And I totally agree. Potato soup is perfect for a cold winter's day.
ReplyDeleteStill crawling out of my edit hole, seeing how much fun y'all had without me. Shame on me.