Dutch Potato Soup

I'm back! I'm here, home, and I survived Costa Rica.

Boy, do I have some interesting food to post about. I never knew rice and beans could be served so many times in a single day. Week, even. I think I consumed an average of 15 meals featuring rice and beans per week. Maybe more. And fried plantains? Oh boy. We United Statesians don't know what we're missing.

But I'm not here to talk about rice and beans. Not today. I just want to present to you, my delicious (albeit a little plain looking) soup. And tell you that I'm becoming more of a locavore! If there's one thing I learned abroad, it's that food doesn't have to come to you from 1000 miles away. So I've been haunting the farmer's markets, running around Puget Consumer's Co-Op with my little pad of recycled paper and a pen, jotting down prices and names of local producers.

So when my dad and his wife presented me with the Cafe Flora Cookbook, I was delighted - a cookbook from one of Seattle's own vegetarian restaurants. YAY! Seattle food. Local food.

I know, I know. Bear with me. I go on these kicks sometimes. You know, gluten-free, vegetarian, organic... local...

So I found an awesome-looking potato soup recipe in this book that used relatively few ingredients, was pretty cheap to make, and I substituted some things for what I could find that was available this time of year, and used what I already had on hand. It turned out quite yummy. Especially since I (sorta) made my own vegetable stock. Except it was a little too salty. But that's not the point.

DUTCH POTATO SOUP
from Cafe Flora Cookbook, at least mostly, and tailored to what I had available
2 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch (about 3 small) fresh bulb onions with the green part still there, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 head fresh garlic, minced with greens removed
1 1/4 lb russet potatoes, sliced but not peeled
4 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp caraway seeds, toasted and ground
3/4 cup lager
1 cup heavy cream
6 oz smoked gouda, grated
salt
black pepper

1. Heat up your oil in the bottom of a stockpot over medium heat. Add the onions and salt. I used both the green and white parts from the little onions I had, and it worked out fine. It hurt my eyes less, too. The recipe calls for a medium yellow onion, but... I like my way. Saute this for about 10 minutes, until the onions turn translucent, and stir it frequently to keep them from browning. Or, if you're me, forget to stir them and have half of them browned and the other half crunchy and undercooked. It's really a matter of taste.





2. Add the garlic, all chopped up. It should smell really good right now. The garlic I found was fresh - not the kind with the dry papery outside. It was all usable, the skin and everything, it was firm and evenly hydrated. I couldn't have separated the cloves if I'd wanted to. Cook this for another minute.



3. Dump in the sliced potatoes and stock. You'll be lucky if your stock is as good as mine. Mine was pretty awesome. I made it with kale and carrots and the tops and hearts of celery and carrots and onion and garlic skins and fresh thyme and dried oregano and salt and pepper and a little paprika and tomato paste. But that's beside the point. You can just use one of those aseptic packages of Pacific vegetable broth. It's delicious. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, then cover and cook for 10 minutes, until the potatoes are soft. You should be feeling pretty good about yourself. At least I was.





4. Meanwhile, ready your food processor/blender and a separate container for the soup. When the potatoes have cooked, remove from the heat and let cool off for about 10 minutes with the lid off. When it is less hot, puree it in batches in your appliance of choice. Just don't fill it more than halfway, or it will start to leak. That's not really what we want. While it's blending, grate yourself some cheese.





5. Return the pureed soup to the heat, add the caraway seeds and beer, and bring back to a boil. Slowly stir in your heavy cream. And oh gee. I had some good heavy cream. Courtesy of Golden Glen Creamery... it was so rich and white and non-homogenized, and came in this adorable little glass bottle. It made me grin. Stir your concoction constantly until it comes to a simmer again.



6. Add cheese, a little at a time as you stir, until it melts completely. Season to taste. ¡Buen Provecho!





PROS: flavorful, rich, filling and warm
CONS: a tad bit fattening, plain-looking

So there we have it. Maybe my next post will have something to do with gallo pinto. Or a restaurant review. You'll just have to wait it out.