Cream of Potato/Vegetable Soup

Wash and cut about 4 potatoes (with or without skins), a few carrots, some broccoli, and any other veggie you have on hand.  Wash and cut potatoes (with or without skins – for taste’s sake, peel them, for health’s sake, leave the peels on), a few carrots, some broccoli, and other veggies.  Boil the potatoes in salted water about 15 minutes or until soft.  Steam the other veggies, especially broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, kale…then scoop into the white sauce with a slotted spoon.  Meanwhile…

To make a Roux (white sauce):
Melt 1 Tbs fat (butter, olive oil, canola oil)
Whisk in 1 Tbs flour

Add 1 cup milk and stir on medium heat until boiling, then boil for at least a minute or until thick.  Watch your temperature and keep stirring – it’s easy to scorch or boil over milk!

For potato soup, I usually use 2-3 Tbs butter, 3-5 Tbs flour (extra thick) and 2 cups milk.  Then after I add the vegetables, I include some chicken stock.

Season with salt and pepper to taste (1 tsp or less salt and ¼-1/2 tsp pepper is safe).  Other herbs like thyme, marjoram, basil and more are good to add flavor, too.

**This is a good recipe to play with…

• You can fry up some bacon and onions and use a little bacon fat for the roux, then add bacon to the soup and sprinkle with cheese for “loaded baked potato” soup.
• My dad calls it “end of garden vegetable soup” with potatoes, green beans, carrots and corn in August.
• Add a cup or two of shredded cheese and some ham and you have a cheesy ham chowder to die for.

See the full recipe with photos here.