More Soup?!!??

Hey, its getting cold in Atlanta—we need all the soup we can get!

When I made the stew for Tavo, I got the enormous bag of potatoes, envisioning roasted potatoes, french fries, and of course—potato soup! Now, I broached the idea of “grilled cheese and potato soup” to a friend, and he said, “meh.”

So, let this now be referred to as Creamy Potato Soup with Dill—accompanied by everyone’s favorite, Toasted Sourdough! (really, guys—I’m getting about as sick of sourdough as you are) Well, just kidding. I just can’t seem to let this bread go! I do mix it with wheat, so it’s not completely white flour…well, I don’t know. Give me a call if you ever want to chat Sourdough. I have strong opinions on the subject!


Creamy Potato Soup with Dill:

3 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 chopped onion

Go ahead and throw these in your heavy bottomed pot with a big ol’ chunk of butter and cook it down. Meanwhile, start peeling your potatoes. When all is cooked to your preference--I dig the almost carmelized--deglaze the pot with white wine.

Add:
4 cups vegetable broth
6-8 small/medium potatoes, peeled and diced

Cook until potatoes are tender, then mash it with a potato masher. If you have an immersion blender, that would be good. You can food process it all, but I’ve always liked a chunky soup.

Start a roux with butter and flour, add to potato soup base.
Also, add:
3 cups milk-or cream if you're feeling naughty (non-dairy is fine too--just make sure it isn't sweetened!)
Ground Pepper
Dill
Cayenne Pepper
*any other herb combo you prefer

....I like to add hot sauce, too--but Tavo doesn't. To each his own!

Don’t let it boil again after you’ve added the milk.



Honestly, every time I make a huge pot of soup, I think of Donna at this small restaurant I worked at in Myrtle Beach in 2000-2001, after the whole, "living out of my car" stint ended (kind of). Until then, I'd spent high school and college waiting tables. My major cooking experience was slapping together sandwiches and iceberg lettuce salads as part of the waiting gig. And I still have a scar from burning my wrist grabbing bread from the pizza oven at 15.

Myrtle Beach was my first "real" cook job. Okay, I started out washing dishes, but eventually I covered the prep cook and sometimes they'd let me take a stab at the grill (beyond just cleaning the damn thing) At any rate, besides the two soups we had on the menu, we'd make a special every day. And these excited me more than anything you could imagine. Donna and Gayle were both ridiculously patient with my pompous self. But it was Donna who taught me how to cook these soups, while singing along with Billie Holliday, Outkast, Sam Cooke...and I made the kitchen listen to as much Prince as they could handle!

I'm throwing the Outkast on here, because Prince has an issue with youtube. Also, I find it ironic that after leaving Myrtle Beach and spending 4 years in Detroit, I ended up back South again. This song was the jam in late 2000!

Outkast has a ban on embedding, so here's the link:
So Fresh So Clean

On a side note, I received a letter back from the job I applied for in Germany!

I didn't get the job. I did get a signed letter saying I was one of the "best qualified." Oh well, I'll keep trying.