SOUP’S ON!
Scrumptious potato dish is a hit morning, noon and night
Early Canadian settlers would breakfast on potato soup, writes Rose Murray in her new cookbook, Rose Murray’s Comfortable Kitchen Cookbook (Whitecap, $29.95).
Her recipe, beautifully photographed with a topping of crisp-cooked bacon, is tempting winter food at any time of day.
One of a dozen soups in the book, a revision of a 1991 publication, the cold weather assortment includes a chunky minestrone, a canned salmon chowder packed with vegetables and Hungarian goulash flavoured with caraway seeds.
Once warm weather returns, Murray, a veteran Ontario food writer, turns to an easy gazpacho and a chilled red pepper and mushroom bisque.
The book offers 230 recipes that range from snacks and starters right through to pickles. Murray also offers imaginative tips on stocking your pantry.
HERBED POTATO SOUP
Serves: 6
6 potatoes, peeled, diced
2 cups (500 mL) chicken
broth
1 tsp (5 mL) dried
marjoram
5 slices smoked side
bacon, diced
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp (30 mL) all-purpose flour
4 cups (1 L) hot milk
1/2 cup (125 mL) whipping cream
Salt and freshly ground
pepper
1/2 cup (125 mL)
chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook the potatoes in the chicken broth with the marjoram for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Without draining, mash potatoes coarsely in the pan. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium frying pan over medium heat, fry bacon until crisp. Use a slotted spoon to transfer bacon to paper towels to drain.
3. Pour off all but 2 tbsp (30 mL) of the bacon fat and cook onions and garlic, covered, over low heat, until softened but not browned, about five minutes. Sprinkle with flour and cook, stirring, for two minutes. Stir mixture into the potatoes.
4. Gradually add the hot milk to the potato mixture, bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly for one minute.
5. Reduce heat to low and stir in the cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the parsley and serve in heated bowls. Top each with bacon.