Rustic Potato Soup!!

  Winter is officially upon us. There hasn't been any snow here yet but I can smell it in the air. The nights are getting colder and colder and it makes me want to cuddle up on the couch under a blanket with a big bowl of hot soup. I was sitting in my living room working on some ideas for future blog posts and realized I needed to run to the store so I could have dinner ready by the time my husband got home. It was cold and rainy outside so I knew some sort of soup was a must. I kept going back to potato soup but that just wasn't enough. I needed something new. Tonight I had to invent my very own potato soup. What I came up with literally blew our socks off. We ended up eating our leftovers the next day and were stilling craving more!! It's THAT good!!! It's one of the best soups I have ever came up with. 

So if you love potato soup or need something to take the chill away then keep-on-a-readin! 

   Here's what you'll need:

* 1 1/4 pounds spicy or sweet Italian sausage ( I used spicy of course! )

* One large carrot

* One medium yellow onion

* 6-7 medium potatoes 

* 3-4 cloves garlic

* 2 TBSP butter

* 4-5 TBSP flour

* A quart of chicken stock (about 4 cups) 

* 1 cup mozzarella/provolone mix (or just your favorite cheese) 

* 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

* tsp of ground thyme (or fresh) 

* Salt and pepper 

* Extra Virgin Olive Oil ( a couple TBSP )

   Start off by adding a couple TBSP olive oil and browning your sausage in a large stock pot. (On about medium-high) Make sure you get your sausage browned to where you cook off most of the fat/oil. There will still be some in the pan and you'll need it for the roux to thicken the soup. Add your carrot, onion and garlic and cook until softened. (You'll turn the heat down a bit so you don't burn the garlic. Medium-low should be good. Just watch your garlic.) Season with salt and pepper. Now chop your potatoes into bite sized pieces and cook an additional 3-5 minutes. Make sure you are stirring frequently. 

You can peel your potatoes if you want. I like them with the peel on. Also I think russet potatoes work the best in this soup. They keep their shape without turning to complete mush. Of course if you prefer another type of potato or if a different kind is on sale use those! 

   Now melt in your butter. Sprinkle in half your flour and mix then add the rest of your flour and mix making sure everything is coated. Stir in your chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Add your thyme. Stir until thickened. It should come out to a gravy-like consistency. 

   At this point let it simmer for 10-15 minutes to cook your potatoes through. I don't blend any of this soup together. I love that it was chunky and thickening it gives it the perfect consistency. 

   After your potatoes are cooked through you will turn your heat to low and add your heavy cream. Start with a cup and taste from there. I used the whole cup and a half. (We love it creamy) heat through on low and right before serving melt in your cheese. Now test your seasonings (salt) and add any if needed. 

 Make sure you are stirring constantly. Even though your heat should be on low you don't want to scald the cream to the bottom of your pot. Your soup will taste burnt and be ruined. Ew! 

    This soup is so amazing you won't believe how fast and easy this recipe is. 

With it getting to temperatures below freezing this week this recipe is a must. You will be putting this in your chilly night recipes forever! 

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Creamy Tomato Soup with Egg Noodle Topper!

   So today I'm going to give you guys another soup recipe. When I first made this tomato soup I absolutely fell in love with it. Besides being so delicious and creamy it's budget friendly and even more important kids will love it!!!

I really felt inspired to make this dish because of the weather changing. We just moved into a new house in a country like setting. Surrounded mostly by woods and deer in our front and backyard everyday. With my favorite season fast approaching a nice warm and comforting soup is just what we needed. I'm super excited to share one of my new favorite soup recipes with you guys. 

Well let's get started already!! 

Of course I'm going to use my immersion blender in this recipe but your food processor or blender will work fine as well. 

The immersion blender is way faster on clean up though. I'm just saying. ;)

Ok ok for real this time. 

 So you want to start out by heating some extra virgin olive oil in a large soup pot. Chop up:

A few medium carrots

Half of a large onion

A few tablespoons of fresh thyme

And peel 4-5 cloves of garlic

Add that all you your pan and grate your garlic in. You want to sweat this out until everything starts to soften. Season with a  pinch of sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper.

   Once those sweat out add a few tablespoons of tomato paste. Let that cook out for a minute or two while you mix it into all of your veg. 

   Add a quart of chicken stock plus a cup of water. 

 

   Add a large can of whole peeled plum tomatoes. Mash these up by hand with a wooden spoon or a potato masher. It doesn't have to be perfect since we will be blending it up later anyway. Now add some fresh chopped basil. Oh course my grocery store was out so I had to buy either dried or the basil in a tube. I opted for the tube basil and it was surprisingly better than I expected. So add a good handful of fresh chopped basil or a tablespoon or two of the tube basil. Let this simmer for 30 minutes. 

   After your soup has simmered for 30 minutes blend it all up nice and smooth. I of course used my immersion blender. Man I love that thing! 

 

   Now let that keep simmering while you make your béchamel. Now you can just add a cup of heavy cream and be done with it but adding this béchamel makes the soup so creamy and delicious while at the same time thickening it up. 

Start of by melting 3 tablespoons of butter in a pan. Add 3 tablespoons of flour and whisk together. 

 

   Let that cook out about 30 seconds and start adding 1 1/2 cups of half and half while whisking. (Whisking while adding the cream prevents it from being lumpy)

Now keep whisking until it starts the thicken and season it with some sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. 

 

   Once it has thickened up add it into your soup. Stir well to combine. I actually just whisked it all together. Let that simmer and thicken up while you make this super fun and yummy topper for your soup. 

   For your soup topper whisk together 4 eggs, a large handful of fresh chopped parsley, freshly grated parmasan (1/2 to 3/4 cup) and sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. 

   Of course I forgot to take a picture of the eggs in the pan but it's pretty simple. Your going to want a large skillet on medium low. Pour the egg mixture in over a pat of melted butter. Do not touch it. Lay a sheet of foil over the egg mixture and let it cook low and slow. Once the egg "omelet" surface has stiffened up and there is no more runny egg on top you can slide it out onto your cutting board. Let it cool some and then roll it up and slice it into little noodles. (You can trim the edges that are super thin and crispy.) 

   Now you just top your soup with your "egg noodles". The noodles give this soup such an amazing and new take on your tomato soup. They are so so delicious. It blew my mind the first time I made it! 

So with fall fast approaching and the temperatures dropping this soup is perfect to cozy up with on a cold night. Add a gooey grilled cheese sandwich and your set!!! 

   I really hope you guys enjoy this dinner. It is definitely one I'm proud to make for my husband and know he is completely satisfied and that he loves it. I really think that feeding my husband or family a meal they truly love and enjoy is a huge part of the reason I love to cook. It makes me proud of how far I have come with the way I cook. Five years ago I probably couldn't cook to save my life and now I love cooking dinner for my husband most every night.  

I really hope you guys enjoyed!! If you like to read my blog then please go and like my fan page on Facebook. Search "pinch of sea salt blog" and like the page to receive updates. :)) 

Not Your Average Potato Soup!

   Well fall is just around the corner which means comfort food heaven!! Fall is without a doubt my favorite season. It's not quite here yet but I came up with a soup to celebrate my excitement for the up coming season. 

This soup I came up with from several different recipes with a twist of my own. It tastes like fall to me. Does that make sense?? 

 If you have never had parsnips then this is the recipe to try them in. They are in almost every grocery store. They look like white carrots. 

Let's get started!

Cut about a half a pound of bacon into small chunks. To be honest next time I will probably use a pound. I know! That's a lot but they were just a little to scarce in the soup for my taste. 

   Fry your bacon up until crisp and set aside. 

While you bacon is cooking peel and chop up 3-4 parsnips, 2 carrots and 2 stalks celery with the leafy greens on too. Those little leaves are full of flavor!! 

   Chop up your carrots, parsnips and celery. Leave a few tablespoons of bacon grease in your pan. Mine didn't produce a whole lot of grease so I added a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Add the parsnips, carrots and celery to the hot oil and start to sweat them out. While those are cooking peel and chop up 4-5 medium Idaho potatos and half a white or yellow onion. Also a little twist of mine was adding some cauliflower. I used about 1/4 of a head. At my grocery store you can buy the cauliflower already cut up so I didn't have to buy a whole head. If you decide to add it but are worried about the left over getting wasted chop it up and roast it with some olive oil and a pinch of sea salt and pepper. When it's done roasting top your soup with it. Why I didn't think of this at the grocery store I don't know. Next time I will definetly be topping my soup with roasted cauliflower!!! 

Make sure to grate in a few cloves of garlic as well.

Chop up some fresh thyme. Make sure to remove leaves from the woody stems. I added about 3 tablespoons. (About 3-4 stems)

   Add all of that to the pot and sweat it all out until it's mostly tender. To nudge it along a little faster (and to keep it from browning) put a lid on it. Make sure you cock the lid so steam can escape. 

   Make sure everything is seasoned and add some sea salt and black pepper. Stir everyone around. Your potatos will start to "mush" up a bit. When that happens add about a quart and a half of chicken stock. Or about 6 cups. I let that simmer for a few minutes to make sure all the veg is tender. 

   Now it's time to purée everything together. 

Remember that immersion blender I always talk about?? Yep I'm using that! Surprise surprise! Remember you can always do this in batches in your blender or food processor but the immersion blender is SO much easier! 

Purée until smooth. 

  Now taste and season. Take into account the bacon you will be adding. 

   Let this simmer on low for a bit for all the flavors to combine. I felt like I needed a little more texture to the soup so I decided to make the simplest croutons to top the soup with. Next time I'll be topping it with roasted cauliflower! 

I had some baguette on hand so I cubed it up. Preheat your oven to 400. Melt a little butter in a pan and infuse it with some smashed garlic. Coat your croutons and season them. Bake until they start to brown. 

   Now while your croutons or cauliflower are in the oven add your bacon to the soup. Turn off the heat and stir in about a half a cup to 3/4 of a cup of heavy whipping cream. (Whichever you prefer) 

   I topped my soup with my croutons, chives and sharp cheddar. I suggest a little dollop of sour cream as well. When I ate some of the leftovers I added a little sour cream and it really brought the whole dish together!

  I hope you all enjoyed this. Remember you can make this dish your own. You can omit the parsnips and cauliflower and just use potatos. I think the parsnips really give the soup something special and they help it "taste like fall". :) 

 

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