I returned to SK for my recipe for dinner this week. Actually, I ended up being the only Pink House dinner, which is exciting for its social implications but not for the health ones. I cooked Sunday night, Monday was Valentine's so the single ladies went to Ugo (уго) for pizza, Tuesday was book club, and Wednesday was parent-teacher conferences (so after 12 hours at school, we just needed food to be handed to us, plus it was one of the teachers birthdays).
At any rate, I felt like I wanted something sort of healthy but also delicious. I found a recipe for Baked Potato Soup and decided to give it a try. In practice, there was a much stronger leek and garlic flavor, likely because I didn't quite follow the recipe, but we still found it very delicious. I ate it for lunch the next few days, and in spite of its less appetizing color, it was really good.
So here is the ingredients as listed with the way that I cooked it instead of the real instructions that SK had. My variations are largely due to my (apparent) inability to read carefully. So it goes. Speaking of Kurt Vonnegut, my fingers are crossed that our elective on him goes through but it isn't looking good. I'm a little sad as I was quite looking forward to a literature discussion class about Slaughterhouse Five and Sirens of Titan, but if it doesn't work out, then so be it.
1 head garlic
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium leeks, white and light green parts halved lengthwise, washed, and chopped small [I have no idea if I used two leeks or what, it was already chopped and shrink wrapped at the HIT)
5 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth [I used water and bouillon cubes]
2 bay leaves
Table salt
2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes [I left the skins on]
1/3 cup sour cream
Ground black pepper
I found SK's instructions about the garlic rather confusing and I think ifI knew how to read the whole recipe first carefully before cooking she had explained how that was all going to play out, I would have followed instructions better. So this is what I did:
Peel off all the outsides of the garlic and get each and every one of those little cloves cleaned off. Thenbecause I can't follow a recipe, I chopped up all that garlic into pieces. Don't worry, the story has a happy ending and the soup tastes good, and you won't kill any vampires (like your boyfriend, Edward) with the amount of garlic in your kiss after eating this.
In one of your bigger pots/pans, melt the butter over medium heat. I used a big silver pan (if only I knew actual categories of cooking instruments. Note to self: learn appliance terms if you are going to tell others how to cook things). Add chopped up leeks and cook them until soft (but not brown), about 5 minutes.
According to SK, you should be doing a variety of things with the different garlic situations you have going on. Since I chopped all mine up together, I just brushed all of it in with the leeks with the broth, bay leaves and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Unlike the recipe's instructions, I turned the heat up to get it to really simmer until garlic was tender, so about 15 to 20 minutes because I had roommates that needed feeding as close to 7 pm as possible, and I was already late.
I looked at my "pan" and the pile of potatoes, so before putting them together and making an absurdly big and hot mess all over our stovetop, I poured the leek mixture into a big pot. Then I added the potatoes with a clear conscious and set those to simmer, partially covered, until potatoes were tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. I was suspicious that potatoes would really get soft that quickly, but they did!
Once everything is soft, discard bay leaves and add the sour cream to soup and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Then I turned off the burner and used our handy immersion blender to process the soup until it was a chunky-creamy texture.
I also happened to have steamed some broccoli hanging around the fridge, so along with the grated cheddar cheese, we all mixed some broccoli into the soup as well.
At any rate, I felt like I wanted something sort of healthy but also delicious. I found a recipe for Baked Potato Soup and decided to give it a try. In practice, there was a much stronger leek and garlic flavor, likely because I didn't quite follow the recipe, but we still found it very delicious. I ate it for lunch the next few days, and in spite of its less appetizing color, it was really good.
So here is the ingredients as listed with the way that I cooked it instead of the real instructions that SK had. My variations are largely due to my (apparent) inability to read carefully. So it goes. Speaking of Kurt Vonnegut, my fingers are crossed that our elective on him goes through but it isn't looking good. I'm a little sad as I was quite looking forward to a literature discussion class about Slaughterhouse Five and Sirens of Titan, but if it doesn't work out, then so be it.
1 head garlic
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium leeks, white and light green parts halved lengthwise, washed, and chopped small [I have no idea if I used two leeks or what, it was already chopped and shrink wrapped at the HIT)
5 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth [I used water and bouillon cubes]
2 bay leaves
Table salt
2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes [I left the skins on]
1/3 cup sour cream
Ground black pepper
I found SK's instructions about the garlic rather confusing and I think if
Peel off all the outsides of the garlic and get each and every one of those little cloves cleaned off. Then
In one of your bigger pots/pans, melt the butter over medium heat. I used a big silver pan (if only I knew actual categories of cooking instruments. Note to self: learn appliance terms if you are going to tell others how to cook things). Add chopped up leeks and cook them until soft (but not brown), about 5 minutes.
According to SK, you should be doing a variety of things with the different garlic situations you have going on. Since I chopped all mine up together, I just brushed all of it in with the leeks with the broth, bay leaves and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Unlike the recipe's instructions, I turned the heat up to get it to really simmer until garlic was tender, so about 15 to 20 minutes because I had roommates that needed feeding as close to 7 pm as possible, and I was already late.
I looked at my "pan" and the pile of potatoes, so before putting them together and making an absurdly big and hot mess all over our stovetop, I poured the leek mixture into a big pot. Then I added the potatoes with a clear conscious and set those to simmer, partially covered, until potatoes were tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. I was suspicious that potatoes would really get soft that quickly, but they did!
Once everything is soft, discard bay leaves and add the sour cream to soup and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Then I turned off the burner and used our handy immersion blender to process the soup until it was a chunky-creamy texture.
I also happened to have steamed some broccoli hanging around the fridge, so along with the grated cheddar cheese, we all mixed some broccoli into the soup as well.
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