Sometimes, I don’t want cooking to be an adventure. Sometimes, after being away from my brand new
apartment still half in boxes for nine days, I want to open a bottle of wine,
cook up a new potato soup recipe from one of my magazines and have a relaxing
night, sipping wine and soup and watching Up.
Maybe even get my new fireplace a going.
So Sunday afternoon I went straight to the grocery store
without heading home first. As I’m
driving home dreaming of a nice glass of red, I suddenly remember “my silverware drawer”. I raced to the front office which
amazingly stays open till 5 pm on Sunday evening and asked if I received any
packages. No. I checked my mailbox,
hoping to find a reason why there, only to discover that for whatever reason
the post office has deemed my mail undeliverable because my last name isn’t on
the outside of the mailbox.
I called Ben
deflated. How am I supposed to make
potato soup without a knife?? All I have
are the crappy plastic ware I bought to tide me over until me silverware came. I take a deep breath and resolve that, yes, I
can do this, as long as I have a good glass of wine to boost my spirits. Then it really hit the fan...
...my corkscrew…
And there, in a few paragraphs, explains how my relaxing
Sunday early evening got flushed down the toilet. Yet, incredibly enough, the soup still happened. It think it was the realization that it was the one thing in my power to make happen and that eating crappy frozen food would have let me completely and irreversibly in the doldrums. Not that half way through chopping my onion, aka demolishing it into a pile of mush with a crappy plastic knife, eyes overflowing with tears, I didn't consider trashing the whole things and eating chocolate for dinner. But then I realized that my super awesome pizza cutter actual did a comparatively good job at cubing potatoes and that I love cheese in every form and somehow, this soup came together.
Cheesy Potato Soup
1 Tbsp. Butter
1 c. Onion, chopped
2 1/2 Tbsp. All-purpose flour
3 c. Red potato, chopped (~1 lb.)
1 1/4 c. 1% Milk
1 1/4 c. Lower-sodium chicken broth
1/2 c. (2 oz.) Sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/8 - 1/4 tsp. Ground red pepper
Green onions, chopped, for garnish
In large pot over medium heat, melt butter. Add chopped onion and cook until fragrant and tender, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with flour and cook, stirring continuously, 1 minute more. Immediately add remaining ingredients, through chicken broth stirring well so flour does not lump. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover and cook for 10 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.
Add shredded cheese and red pepper. Immediately remove from heat, stirring continuously until cheese is completely melted. Ladle into individual bowls and top with green onions (you could do some extra cheese too, it's ok, I won't tell Cooking Light on you...) Enjoy!
1 c. Onion, chopped
2 1/2 Tbsp. All-purpose flour
3 c. Red potato, chopped (~1 lb.)
1 1/4 c. 1% Milk
1 1/4 c. Lower-sodium chicken broth
1/2 c. (2 oz.) Sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/8 - 1/4 tsp. Ground red pepper
Green onions, chopped, for garnish
In large pot over medium heat, melt butter. Add chopped onion and cook until fragrant and tender, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with flour and cook, stirring continuously, 1 minute more. Immediately add remaining ingredients, through chicken broth stirring well so flour does not lump. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, cover and cook for 10 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.
Add shredded cheese and red pepper. Immediately remove from heat, stirring continuously until cheese is completely melted. Ladle into individual bowls and top with green onions (you could do some extra cheese too, it's ok, I won't tell Cooking Light on you...) Enjoy!
