1.13.2011

The Soup of My Childhood

49 of the 50 states have some sort of snow right now. This stat includes Hawaii. Granted, the snow in Hawaii is on top of a volcano, so it barely counts, but that's beside the point. The only state without snow right now is Florida.

What better way to warm up from all this cold weather than with some hot potato soup. Ewing-potato soup that is. This soup recipe is one of the main dishes i remember my mom making as a child. It's so comforting and cozy and filling, easy to save and reheat, and fairly inexpensive to make. Good for big families on a budget or small families that like leftovers (like me and josh!).

The Players:
1 onion

2-3 stalks of celery sliced thin
4 Tbs of butter

8-10 potatoes

3-4 carrots
parsley
chicken broth/stock or bouillon cubes and water to cover all
salt / pepper
dill seasoning
Can of evaporated milk

Cheddar Cheese
and try not to gasp too loudly...
1/3 - 1/2 a loaf of Velveeta or other processed cheese product of your choice. Me...I go for generic Publix brand Cheese Blend pasteurized process cheese!

The Game:

Chop the onion.

Thinly chop the celery

Saute in large pot with 1 - 8 Tbs of butter (depends on how fatty you wanna be, but works with any amount)

 Peel and chop the carrots.

 Peel and chop the potatoes to about 1/2 - 1 inch.

Put potatoes and carrots in with sautéed onion, celery, and butter. Barely cover with broth (or water and bouillon cubes (1 cube per cup of water you use). Add parsley.
 Bring a low boil till potatoes are soft enough to poke easily with a fork. (approximately 10 mins or until you realize you've forgotten you were making dinner while surfing facebook and rush back to check it.)

Once potatoes are soft, drop heat to low and add cheese in chunks (1-3 inches). (Velveeta cheese is essential cause of it's awesome melting capabilities....add as much or as little cheddar as you want.)

Grab your potato masher and hold it awkwardly above the soup

Just kidding...mash up some of the bigger potato chunks and pieces of cheese. *Note: Be careful not to burn your hands on the steam from the soup!

Once cheese is melted and when nearly finished add evaporated milk salt, pepper and dill to taste. Don't boil the milk or you will get some nasty curdles and dill does best when not heated for a long time.

Cut up some tasty french bread.
Thanks to Josh for being a hand model!

Chill some delicious white wine.

And Enjoy!

(p.s. i stupidly forgot to take a picture of this delicious soup before was gone so how the end result lookst will be a mystery till you make it!)

8 comments:

  1. I LOVE VELVEETA.

    whew. feels good to get that off my chest.

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  2. This looks good and I am going to make it soon! A big thank you for the recipe. Hopefully, I can't screw it up. :) Happy Friday!

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  3. omigosh. Potato soup is my all-time favorite. I'm going to make it even though our snow is already melting.

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  4. Potato soup is SO yummy! I made some last night and almost added it to my blog. :)
    FYI - I know yours is a tried and true recipe, but if you're ever feeling the need to eliminate the velveeta you can just use cheddar by making a rue and slowly adding the shredded cheese to it. You could probably add the milk in with it too and dump the whole thing in to the potato mixture afterwards. Or you can use velveeta cuz it's easy and yummy. :)
    I love the "forgot you were making dinner while facebooking" comment. I can totally relate.

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  5. holy awesome that looks delicious! ha, and i love "the players" and "the game". definitely an awesome way to start a recipe post

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  6. You probably forgot the last pic because it was gone so quickly. Oh my I love that soup.

    P.S. the wine isn't quite a ewing tradition but I'm up for modifications.

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  7. Love that soup! Way to go - carrying on the tradition.

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