The weather took a turn for the cold this weekend… which is fabulous, because I have been hankering for soup, but it was just too hot!

Since it is cold & rainy today, it was easy to convince the girls that we needed soup. Of course, one of them is always in the mood for potato soup. Always. And that is what I told her this was…

If you have a bit of Summer’s bounty hanging around your house, or even some staples and frozen veggies, this will be a tasty way to use some of it up!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head cauliflower
• 2 average carrots
• 3 large yellow potatoes (Yukin Golds are perfect)
• 2 small onions – diced
• 2 medium or 1 large leek
• 3 cloves garlic – minced
• olive oil

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 – 32 oz. carton rice milk OR chicken broth
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• seasonings to taste

Preheat your oven to 400F. Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of a roasting pan or 9″x14″ glass baking dish.

Peel the potatoes and carrots and dice them into small chunks. Dice one onion, the garlic and one leek. Put all of this into the roasting dish with the cauliflower florets, breaking them into small pieces. Grind some black pepper over the top, sprinkle a pinch of salt and drizzle slightly with olive oil.

Roast uncovered for 30-45 minutes, or until a majority of the veggies have begun to caramelize.

In a large sauce pan or dutch oven, saute the other onion (diced) and leek until the onion is translucent. Add some seasonings to taste – we like Mrs. Dash, Montreal Steak Seasoning and Emeril’s Essence. Peel and dice the other potato, and add that to the onion. Add the butter and cook for 10 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the onion & potatoes and make a basic roux, browning the flour and butter.  Add the roasted veggies and the rice milk. Cook down for about 10 minutes to thicken the milk.

The rice milk has a very watery texture

Add the heavy cream and cook until it is warmed through. If it needs to thicken a bit more, let it boil for a few minutes. For a richer soup, add a bit more cream.

If you want to make this vegan, leave out the butter and cream – it will be a thinner soup, but still very tasty!

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Some other things to add in…

bacon – cook it before the onions. Cut it into small pieces and fry. When it’s almost done add the onions.\

cheese – cheddar, mozzarella, monterey jack, colby… all of these will work well. We add it to the individual bowls, as some like it and others don’t.

sour cream – you can add 1/2 cup to the whole pot, or just add a dollop to the bowls that want it.

Enjoy!

I set out to make a pot of potato soup the other night… and it turned into something entirely different, but very tasty!

We had some leftover salmon from the night before, so I added that in with the garlic and leeks. Then I used a buttery sweet corn soup (from Pacific) that I had in the pantry instead of the milk. That made for a very tasty chowder in and of itself… but then I kicked it up another notch! We also had some spicy sour cream leftover from the night before – basically sour cream mixed with cholula pepper sauce & dry cholula seasoning – and a can of fire roasted green chilis. The result was nearly sublime!

I’m calling it Western Seafood Chowder, as it is a melding of Southwestern and Northwestern cooking. It is a great meal starter, or make it the meal!

5 red potatoes – peeled & chopped
5 carrots – peeled and chopped
1/2 cup corn nibblets

seafood options
pre-cooked fish (leftovers are great!)
scallops
clams
fish (salmon, halibut, cod, tilapia, etc)

2 Tbsp. minced leek
1-2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 small can ortega green chilis or jalapenos (depending on the heat you want) or 1 fresh jalapeno, diced and seeded
2 slices peppered bacon – cut into 1/2-inch pieces before frying
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. whole wheat flour
1-1/2 tsp. black pepper OR Montreal Steak Seasoning
1/4 tsp. white pepper
seafood seasoning of your choice

1/2 carton Pacific Buttery Sweet Corn soup
1/2 carton chicken broth
2 Tbsp. heavy cream

Cheddar cheese – shredded
sour cream*

Boil the potatoes and carrots until soft. About 5 minutes before they are done, add the corn (frozen works well).

In a large saucepan melt 2 Tbsp. of butter, add the uncooked bacon pieces and saute the pepper, leeks and garlic until translucent. If you are using uncooked fish, scallops or clams, add them at this time. Add a touch of olive oil if the butter starts to cook off too soon. Add the black and white pepper and the seafood seasoning. If you are using pre-cooked seafood, add it now.

Sprinkle the flour over the garlic mixture and stir quickly to create a roux. Add the rest of the butter, and allow it to brown. If it is too thick, add the heavy cream.

Add some of the corn soup and stir to mix in the roux with no lumps.

Drain the potatoes and add them to the soup base. Add the rest of the corn soup and chicken broth – enough to make the soup slightly thinner that you want it to end up. If you haven’t added the cream yet, add it now.

Let it simmer for 10 minutes or so and taste it to see if it needs any more seasonings.

Sprinkle shredded cheese in the bottom of each bowl – enough to make a small mound. Ladle the chowder into the bowls and add a dollop of sour cream* to the top. Sprinkle with cheese and chives or dill to garnish.

Serve with warm tortillas or crusty sourdough bread.

*for a tasty upgrade to your sour cream, take 1/2 cup sour cream and mix in 1/2 to 1 tsp. hot chili sauce like cholula or tobasco. You can make it as hot as you want it by adding more or less sauce!