potato soup | Cecile's Cuisine

My daughter is a senior and consequently is spending her very last year with us. BOO hoo… As a responsible adult, she has therefore been applying to various colleges over the US, some close and some not so close. In fact a bit further than we would like it to be.. but this is how life goes….

Because of a lack of time, we decided to visit a few colleges during this Christmas break. Well, I know most colleges are empty during this time but it is difficult to get some days off when you have a full time job. Any way, after offering a delicious Christmas dinner to my family on the 25th of December, we quickly cleaned everything, packed our suitcases to drive towards Florida on the 26th at 6:00 am. Though the timing was a bit hectic, we were happy to leave the Carolinas to find the sunny weather and warmth of Florida. Well, after being back I am happy to say that Lisa did not find a colleges that she fell “in love with” just yet, so may be she will not be going too too far. We can dream, right???

Well as we made our return back to the Carolinas yesterday, we also left the warmth of Florida and found ourselves coming to an even colder state than we had left. It was 23 yesterday when we got home. BRRRR…

After a long drive, sitting more than 15 hours in the car, I was not really in the mood to cook dinner, but i was so cold that a soup really sounded appetizing. Well, after a long week of absence, I can say that little can be found in the fridge, and so i had to do with what I had: Potato and Kielbasa Sausage.

Ingredients for a large pot of soup for 10 people:

1 onion sliced thinly
1 kielbasa sausage sliced thinly and cut in quarters
8 medium sized potatoes peeled and cubed
2 tbsp of butter
4 cup of vegetable broth
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of pepper
1-2 cup of cream

Place the large pot on top of the stove and turn the heat to medium high. Add the butter and melt it.
When the butter is sizzling, add the onions and saute them until they become translucent and golden.
Add the sausages and saute them as well.
Then add the potato cubes to the onion mixture and saute them as well for a few minutes until they become a bit golden.
Pour in the broth and bring the mixture to boil. Lower the temperature to medium low and cook for at least 30 minutes or the potatoes are tender. Add salt, pepper and stir well. For a faster option, you may transfer the content of the pot into a large round mold, place the octogonal silpat on top to close it and cook the potatoes for 13 minutes. Then transfer the content back into the pot. Pour the broth over the potatoes, add salt, and pepper and bring it to boil. Lower the temperature and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the cream and mill the mixture until it is smooth.
If you wish to have a soup free of lumps, you may sieve the soup through a fine sieve. I did not, and still enjoy it very much. Warm and cozy. Yum!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Transfer the content of the pot into the large round

Meals in France are somewhat different than here in the States. We usually start our meal with an appetizer of some sort, if it is not Charcuterie ( cold Cuts), it is a soup in the winter and crudites in the summer ( fresh vegetables such as carrot salad). We then have a main entree with meat, starch and vegetables which is followed by a salad with cheese and of course dessert. After the holidays, you can imagine, those desserts often become light sweets such as yogurts or fruits.

My mom made the best soups. One of my favorite soup growing up was carrot, potato and leek soup. And with this weather, I have been craving to eat this soup… the problem?!?! Leeks. It has been difficult to find leeks so today when i saw them, you can imagine that I quickly grabbed a few of them to make that soup. Except that when I got home I realized I had forgotten to buy carrots… Oh well… today was going to be potato, leek soup.

Ingredients: 3 leeks, 5 medium sized potatoes, 1 cup of white wine, 5 cups of chicken broth, salt and pepper to taste, 3 tbsp of butter.

Trim the leeks to about 1 inch away from the white part. Cut the leek in half and rinse under water to clean all the sand. Chop the leek very thinly. In a large pot, melt the butter and when the butter is sizzling, add the chopped leeks. Turn the heat to low-medium heat to sweat the leeks for about 5 minutes. Add the cubed potatoes to the pot, and stir. Add the white wine and cook for a few minutes. Then add the broth to the pot and bring to boil. When it has come to boil, lower the temperature and cook for 20 minutes. With an emulsion mixer, puree the soup and add more broth if you think the soup needs to be more liquid. Season with salt and pepper if necessary. When serving, add chopped chives and a dollop of sour cream and eat. Et voila!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

NB: by the way, those are not leeks pictured here;-)