Making Hearty Potato Soup

We had a few lonely potatoes left from our fall crop.  Note to self: plant more potatoes next year, both in the Spring and in the Fall.  With chilly weather and the kids in from college and Russ unable to eat anything but soup due to having his wisdom teeth removed, soup was on the menu - Hearty Potato Soup.

We peeled and cut up the remaining homegrown potatoes and had to buy some potatoes from the store to supplement the ones we grew.  I think it ended up being 7 or 8 medium sized potatoes that we peeled, cut, and added to the pot along with some homegrown sweet corn that we thawed out.  We boiled it in salted water along with a half cup of cut up onions. We cooked for about 20 minutes until the potatoes were softened.

The boiling pot

We took a potato masher and mashed up the potatoes and then cut the corn off the cob.  In a separate pot we added 3 or 4 tablespoons of butter with 2 or 3 tablespoons of flour and made a roux, but didn't allow it to brown - just until bubbly.  Then we added to the soup.  Finally we added milk and cream and warmed it up nicely.

Cutting the corn off the cob

As it was heating, we grated a cup of smoked Gouda cheese into the pot.

Grated smoked Gouda

Then it was time to get the bowls out and ladle the delicious potato soup into them. We picked some Italian parsley to garnish the soup and added some of our Criolla Sella pepper to the top.

Ready to eat!

We sat down, thanked the Good Lord for the good food and it was on!

Spoon view

Potato soup is a family favorite and doesn't take long to cook and it disappears very quickly.

Disappearing act

After we had eaten it and enjoyed it, we started thinking about things to add next time that will make it even better - things like mushrooms and bacon and accompaniments like cheese toast.  We'll try that next time...